


Limited Chances

by Lawral



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: F/F, Gen, alternate season 5, paily
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-22 22:25:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6095923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lawral/pseuds/Lawral
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Paige will do anything for Emily, her love has no bounds. When a number of obstacles test their relationship, Emily quickly learns that she'll only have limited changes at true happiness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Emily walked into her third period class and found a folder at her usual table. _Dover-Kerry_ it read. She looked around at the handful of other confused students before following their example and searched out her name. She pause as she looked down at the folder bearing her surname.

_Fields-McCullers._

Emily looked up to see Paige also looking at the folder. Their eyes met for a moment before Emily broke the contact and sat down, pushing the folder subtly toward Paige's side of the table.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen," Ms. Sawyer said a moment before the bell rang. "I am sure you are all curious as to your new seating arrangements."

She chuckled at the numerous mumbles of agreement coming from the roomful of students. "For the remainder of this semester you will all take part in a socio-economical team project. This project will count for half of your final grade." Ms. Sawyer paused to allow for the groans before continuing. "If you all will indulge me by looking at your desk partners."

In her peripheral vision, Emily saw Paige slowly turn to look at the side of her face. A frog had lodged its way into her throat as she turned her head, effectively catching sight of Paige's chestnut-colored eyes. So much had changed in the last few weeks; the way that Paige looked at her had changed as well. Love was still evident in her gaze but pain and longing had joined the crowd of emotions hidden in the swimmer's eye. Emily tried to swallow the frog that had taken up residence in her throat again.

"Congratulations! You are each looking at your husband or wife." Ms. Sawyer announced.

A dozen head returned their gazes to the front of the room. Some seemed excited while others looked like a four-year-old whose ice cream was suddenly ripped away. Emily continued to stare into Paige's orbs until the girl ducked her head.

"Now before you all groan and moan about this assignment, I want you all to be aware that I have spent two weeks preparing your personal folders. Inside your folders, you will find your couple history- how you met, how long you dated, how long you've been married- as well as your individual careers, salaries and financial obligations." Ms. Sawyer smiled. "I know that none of you would want to hurt my feelings by not taking this assignment serious."

Paige absent mindedly pulled the folder toward herself and opened it.

"Each couple have been paired by actual couples I've noticed around school and random pairings specifically designed to have either social or economical issues inside the relationship. Those couples with these two disadvantages were chosen randomly and by no means reflect my personal favoritism."

Paige closed the folder after reading the first paragraph of their relationship history. The parallels were uncanny.

"You will find, on the board, a daily event. You will take these challenges into your marriage as part of the final report. If, by chance, you were to find an asterisk next to your gender role- a personal journal entry is required based on the challenge." Ms. Sawyer informed them. "Paige, Emily, your name will be in parenthesis; determining your gender role for any specific journal entry."

An hour later Emily slung her bag down onto the courtyard table. Spencer looked up from her garden salad to her exasperated best friend.

"Afternoon, Sunshine."

Emily glared up to the tall brunette.

"What's going on?" Spencer asked, pushing her tray away slightly to lean her arms on the table.

"Sawyer; she paired me and Paige for some marriage assignment that is half our grade."

"Oh, yeah, I remember doing that."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, her timing is just spot on"

"Who's timing?" Hanna asked as she and Aria sat down with their lunch trays.

"Ms. Sawyer," Spencer announced. "Emily got married last period, to Paige."

"Seriously?" Aria sputtered. "Can't you talk to Ms. Sawyer? Tell her you've broken up?"

* * *

_Emily hung back slightly as the room cleared out for lunch. Paige had taken the folder, tucking it between two textbooks after Emily continued to refuse even looking at it._

_"Excuse me, Ms. Sawyer?" Emily asked as the last of her classmates left the room._

_"Miss Fields," The young teacher greeted as she packed away her own bag before the lunch hour. "You have question about the assignment?"_

_She could feel her cheeks growing red at the thought of being educationally married to Paige for the next few weeks. "I was wonder if... whether I might be able to, uh, switch partners?"_

_Ms. Sawyer ceased her actions and looked up at the student in front of her. "Is there a problem with your pairing?"_

_Emily lowered her head, her fingers scratching at one another. "Paige and I," She raised her gaze once more. "We're not together anymore."_

_Ms. Sawyer continued to hold Emily's eye, instantly making nose of the unease in her chocolate-brown gaze. "I'm sorry to hear that, Emily. It appears that I unknowingly put you two into the social disadvantage category."_

_"You won't swap partners." Emily stated, feeling her stomach drop despite already anticipating the answer._

_"As I said in class, I spent two weeks creating those folders." Ms. Sawyer reminded, picking up her keys and ushering Emily toward the door. "It will be interesting to see how your final report comes out."_

* * *

Emily folded her arms across the table and groaned, allowing her head to fall forward. "How am I gonna do this?"

"Is it really that hard to imagine being married to Paige?" Hanna asked her.

"Yes, I mean, you two were more domesticated than any of us." Spencer pointed out. "Now two weeks ago you were going to California with her; you were going to live together, remember?"

Emily sighed as she picked her head up again and looked at her friends. She knew they had a point about the relationship she'd shared with Paige.

"And now I'm not."

"Incoming." Aria mumbled as she looked over Emily's shoulder.

Paige walked up to the table, her hands nervously wiping a downward path against her thighs.

"Hey, Paige." Spencer greeted with a smile. "Here to sweep Emily off on a honeymoon?"

Paige blushed slightly. Despite Emily avoiding her, Aria's warm-cold shifts and Hanna having never really made an effort toward her, Paige was glad that Spencer had retained their mutual respect perception.

"Sort of, I guess." Paige caught Emily's eye once more. "I wanted to figure out a time to go over the folder together. Are you working today? I can come by The Brew after practice."

Four pairs of eyes had now settled on the former swimmer. Alone, she probably could have gotten out of the meeting for the day but it seemed that Paige had a lease one of Emily's friends in her corner... if not all three.

"Sure," Emily forced a smile. "I mean, I'm not working but The Brew sounds great."

Paige smiled softly, her hands stopping their nervous actions Emily swore she saw the brunette bounce on her toes a fraction, a subtle sign of pure happiness. "It's a date."

Before Emily could correct her ex, Paige had returned to the table on the opposite side of the courtyard.

"Emily has a date," Aria grinned in a sing-song voice.

"It's not a date," Emily stated. "It's schoolwork."

"Can I make the wedding scrapbook?" Aria continued.

Emily groaned again, her head once again falling against her folded arms.

 

Paige walked into The Brew with the strap of her bag crossing over her chest. She paused briefly, looking around for the familiar face before continuing into the small alcove that she always saw the girls sitting in. Trevor, a junior from her Advanced Bio class, came over to take her order. Reaching into her bag, Paige pulled out the folder and simply stared at the two names on the cover.

"Ahem," Paige looked up to see Emily standing above her. "Sorry, I'm late."

Trevor returned with the two steaming cups of coffee, mumbling a greeting to his coworker. Emily glanced down at the liquid before arching her brow at Paige.

"Americana, right?" Paige asked, though she knew the girl's usual order for every place in town.

The swimmer watched as Emily smiled softly before lowering herself into a chair opposite the couch she sat on. As per usual when Paige was in Emily's company, her chest ached at the refusal to sit next to her.

"So, have you looked at our folder yet?" Emily asked.

Paige shook her head, "Just the first paragraph back in class."

Silence fell over the pair as they continued to stare into each others eyes. Paige had never been able to close off the portal that lead right to her heart when it came to Emily. The ex-swimmer could practically see herself in Paige's eye. Pain, nervousness, and undying love radiated from the chestnut orbs she had always been able to lose herself in. Emily felt her own chest constrict as her own pain surfaced for a moment. The betrayal was still fresh and Alison continued to remind her of how close they'd come to being killed y Shana. Somehow, that was Paige's fault.

"So, do you want to read it or..."

Paige looked down at the folder in her hands, silently wishing that Emily would sit next to her as they studied the folder. "Oh, uh, sure."

Paige opened the folder as she heard a text alert from Emily's phone. She briefly saw Alison's name on the screen before Emily hit the ignore button and shoved her phone deep into her bag.

"Paige and Emily Fields-McCullers met in high school, true high school sweethearts. Stars of the Varsity Swim Team, the pair became serious in their senior year and continued on to college with matching scholarships." Paige glanced up at Emily who had shifted uncomfortably with the last sentence. "The couple became more serious, dating throughout college and marrying shortly after graduation."

"So we've been together five years," Emily summarized.

Paige turned the page to see a bullet page. "You have a career as a Sports Therapist, while I am teaching Health and Fitness as well as coaching Cross Country."

Both girls seemed to find their faux careers sufficiently acceptable as Paige continued to read.

"You have a salary of a hundred dollars a day, mine is eighty-five." Paige skimmed down the spreadsheet. "The mortgage on our house is fifteen-hundred... bills, including car payments, insurance and utilities is nine hundred. Leaving food, entertainment and savings at just over eighteen-hundred."

"Hello, Middle Class." Emily joked.

"Shouldn't be too difficult," Paige calculated. "As long as one of us doesn't end up in hospital for an extended period of time."

"I wonder how she decided all of this," Emily voiced. "I mean, now that I can't swim- Sports Therapy wouldn't be such a leap."

Paige smiled, looking up at the beautiful girl in front of her. "Did Ms. Sawyer give you an idea?"

Emily smiled easily in return, "Maybe."

Silence suddenly enveloped the two girls as their eyes met. Paige had always loved how Emily's whole face would light up when she smiled; she loved it more when she was the reason for that smile. Paige instantly saw a distraught Emily in front of her. The very Emily who was mourning the loss of her first girlfriend. It was that story of her crazy grandfather and the bright smile that had made her feel truly happy since coming out to her parents three months before.

"Uh, so, do we have any kids?" Emily asked, breaking the lingering gaze and joining Paige on the couch.

Paige felt her pulse quicken and a flutter in her stomach as Emily sat next to her and hunched forward to read the binder in front of them. The swimmer was completely aware of the two inches that separated their thighs.

"Uh, I don't believe so." Paige sat up and leaned forward, mimicking Emily's posture. "I didn't know you wanted kids."

Emily shrugged as she continued to gaze intensely at the folder yet not really seeing the gibberish written inside. "Yea, I mean, most people want kids don't they?"

"I hadn't really thought about it," Paige admitted.

Emily turned her head unable to describe the feeling of sadness that coursed through her chest. "Really?"

Paige met her eye once more, shrugging a shoulder. "Can't close the closet door once it's opened."

 

Mr. DiLaurentis had completely lost his mind. Alison had been locked away in her house since the day following her mother's funeral and it had quickly lost its luster. She didn't want to be hiding anymore; not when she'd finally returned home to where everyone adored her again. The girls had all started acting strange over the past week and she could feel her group pulling away from her; that was just not acceptable. At least she had Emily. Emily could never stay angry at her; knowledge that she loved having because it made her so much easier to manipulate.

Alison walked around town. She knew that she should be accustomed to the gawks from passerby's but it wasn't exactly the type of attention she yearned for. It got rather tiresome being stared at all the time. She groaned quietly as she pushed the door open to The Brew as another group of children stopped in their tracks as she'd walked toward them.

Ali looked around her for a moment, catching her bearings before going to order a coffee. She'd begun to take a step to the counter when she noticed the two brunettes staring intently at each other on the couch opposite the door. As she gazed at the unknowing pair, the look she witnessed burned white-hot jealousy through her. Emily and Pigskin?

"Can't close the closet door once it's open." Paige said as she approached them.

"Depends on the closet, Pigskin." Alison sneered.

The thread that held Emily's attention to Paige's chestnut eyes instantly snapped. She glanced up to her best friend and suddenly felt Paige's body stiffen as she turned her attention to the blonde as well. Almost immediately Paige had turned into the crying shell she'd been when she confessed the bully-victim relationship she'd shared with Alison before her disappearance. A part of Emily wanted to reach out and hold the girl just as she'd done that night on her front step.

"Hey, Em." Alison continued sweetly, as if she hadn't just taken a jab at Paige's sexuality. "I thought we were meeting up after school. I've been cooped up in that house all day. Do you want to go see a movie with me?"

Paige remained silent, knowing that Alison was attempting to get a rise out of her by openly asking Emily on what was to appear as a date. Her eyes remained glued on the folder, studying the mash up of their surnames.

"You're not busy, right?" Alison spoke again in that award-worthy innocent voice she used to entice people to do what she wanted of them.

"Actually-"

"No," Paige suddenly spoke up. "No, we're done."

Emily looked down to Paige's hands as she folded the notebook and went to shove it in her bag. Her hands were shaking slightly as she shoved the folder between her Bio and Trig books. "Paige-"

"I'll see you later, Emily." Paige said as she got to her feet and stepped past Alison without even closing the zipper on her backpack.

Emily watched from the couch as Paige twisted the knob, slung open the door and pulled it close behind her. She jumped visibly as the door slammed, signaling Paige's retreat. Her lips formed a tight line as she returned her gaze to the blonde standing above her.

"What was that?" Alison snapped.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked, picking up the two cups of coffee that sat in front of her on the table.

"Don't play dumb, Emily. It's not becoming of you." Alison paused as she caught Emily's eye briefly. "I saw how you two were looking at each other. You were practically undressing her with your eyes."

The brunette straightened up as she stood, throwing her bag over her shoulder and picking up the cups. Alison followed her as she deposited the cups in a container where Angie stood clearing a table next to the door.

"You should be careful who you associate with, Emily; you wouldn't want to give off the wrong impression."

Emily opened the door before turning on Alison again. "It's just a school assignment. Paige and I were partnered together, I don't have a choice."

"Of course, you have a choice-"

"If I want to fail."

Emily turned to proceed out the door when she felt Alison's hand catch her arm. "I don't want you to see Pigskin again."

Almost instantly, Emily jerked her arm away from the blonde and took a half-step forward. Her nose was mere inches from Alison's and the gleam in her eye was of red-hot anger, not the adoration that Alison was so used to seeing. "Don't call her that ever again. Her name is Paige."

The blonde wasn't even given a moment to completely understand what was happening- that Emily had just stood up to her for the first time, that she was defending Paige McCullers- when Emily turned on her heel and strode out the door without so much as a second glance. She was losing her girls, they weren't her puppets anymore.

That was just not acceptable.


	2. Chapter 2

Emily entered the classroom vehemently. She had been looking all morning for Paige; as of yet, the brunette had been able to avoid her. During third period, however, there would be no place to hide. Not when she had to share a desk with Emily for an hour. After her departure from the Brew, Emily had searched the empty sidewalk in search of Paige's car.

"Excuse me," Jenny Dover said, coming up behind Emily in the doorway.

Wordlessly, the former swimmer walked further into the room and deposited her bag on the table she'd shared with Paige the morning before. Emily pulled out a notebook and began to write down the daily event from the board as the classroom filled.

The bell rang suddenly and Emily's gaze fixed on the door as two stragglers tried to inch in the doorway while Ms. Sawyer got to her feet. Paige was nowhere to be seen.

"Alright, I am assuming that you all have read over your folders. I am also going to assume," She hinted, throwing a smile at the two students who had just glided into their seats. "That you have all written down the daily event and will keep it in mind as..."

Emily tuned out the rest of the day's lesson as she continuously glared toward the vacant seat to her right.

The hour past incredibly slowly as she continued to look toward the empty chair as if Paige would materialize out of nowhere. Emily exited the lunch line and looked around the lunchroom. She had sworn she'd seen Paige's Prius in the parking lot that morning.

"Earth to Emily," Spencer voice sounded from her left.

"Huh?" Emily said, turning her attention to her friend.

"I asked if you were going to sit with us or if you planned on standing here all period."

Emily stepped in line with Spencer as they made their way toward the usual table they shared with Hanna and Aria. Sitting down, Emily twisted the cap off of her water bottle but looked among the faces of the lunch room.

"Looking for someone in particular?" Spencer smirked, twisting the cap from her juice.

"Huh?" Emily asked again, turning to face Spencer.

Spencer snickered, choking on her juice for a moment.

"Whoa, easy, Spence." Aria said as she set her tray down. "Juice is to drink, not inhale."

Spencer narrowed her glare as she coughed a few more times. Aria smiled brightly in return as she sat down and removed the cover of the salad on her tray.

"So, why is Emily trying to choke you to death?"

"Emily's doing what?" Hanna asked, taking the remaining seat next to Emily.

The three looked silently at Emily, who was continuing to look around the filling lunch room. Spencer started smirking as Hanna and Aria looked in the same direction as Emily.

"She's looking for Paige." Spencer supplied as the two returned their questioning gaze to her.

"Remind me," Hanna spoke. "Wasn't she freaking out, just yesterday, about being married to Paige?"

Aria watched as Emily scanned a few tables filled with members of the swim team. "Apparently, that was yesterday."

The tiny brunette reached across the table to gain Emily's attention, grinning when she made a questionable grunt. "How was your date yesterday?"

"It wasn't a date." Emily groaned, picking up the burger from her plate.

"Then why are you looking for Paige?" Hanna countered.

"I'm not looking for Paige." Emily mumbled.

"Alright, Pinocchio, I think I just saw your nose grow." Spencer smiled.

Aria looked at Emily closely. Her brow was furrowed, her mouth was slightly agape as her bright eyes roamed over the features of every single person in the room. She knew the look on her friend's face very well after the past year.

"Em, is everything alright?"

"I'm fine," Emily answered vaguely.

"That's great," Spencer said, also noticing the familiar face of her best friend. "But that's not what she asked."

Emily finally caught sight of Paige sitting at a table outside in the courtyard. Her normally gorgeous brown hair had been thrown into a messy pony, she'd layered a red plaid shirt over a white t-shirt spattered with light blue specks of paint. Emily made note that the color seemed to match that of her bedroom walls. In all honesty, Paige looked defeated as she pushed her fork around the plate in front of her. She barely looked up as someone passed by, seemingly having greeted her in passing. The smile from yesterday had vanished from the swimmer's features; Emily found herself missing how Paige's smile seemed to light up her eyes. It had been weeks since she'd seen the light in Paige's eyes, yesterday had been close but not like she was used to.

She watched as Paige pulled the blue, floppy folder from her bag and set it in front of her before opening the cover and reading. The empty chair next to her in their Economics class suddenly reminded her that she had been searching to speak with the girl all day; and Paige had skipped the one guaranteed opportunity Emily had.

"I'll be right back," Emily announced, never taking her eye off of Paige.

"And there she goes," Spencer commentated in monotone, as Emily got up from the table and walked briskly toward the lunchroom doors.

 

"Where the hell were you?"

Paige closed her eyes briefly at the sound of the voice above her. Immediately she scolded herself for coming to school at all after what had happened yesterday. The fork in her hand was still plunged into the visually disgusting casserole that she'd been served for lunch. Instead of answering, Paige removed the fork and pushed her tray away slightly before turning and looking up to Emily for a moment.

"Why weren't you in class?" Emily confronted.

Paige shrugged a single shoulder before gazing down at the folder again, closing it and trying to slide it off the table without Emily noticing. "I skipped."

"Yeah, I got that."

Paige exhaled softly; she could hear the pain and anger in Emily's voice. The toned former athlete took a seat next to Paige. Emily had positioned herself so her gaze bore into the side of Paige's face; her gaze never faltered or deviated as she waited somewhat impatiently for the swimmer to look at her.

"Why?"

The courtyard suddenly felt as if it was suffocating. Or perhaps it was the conversation that seemed to be suffocating to her. There had only been once in which she'd lied to Emily, and even that was debatable. If there was one thing that she did pride herself in when it came to Emily, she'd never flat-out lied to the girl.

Paige turned to face Emily, looking straight into her angry chocolate orbs. "I skipped because of you."

Emily recoiled visibly as if Paige had literally smacked her across the face. Her brows furrowed even further as pain replaced her anger. What did Paige mean, she had skipped because of Emily? "Me?"

"Yes," Paige said matter-of-fact. "I knew that you'd want to talk about yesterday and... Alison."

Emily grazed her eyes over Paige's unkempt appearance once more. The swimmer had really came into her own skin after coming out; she didn't have to suffer in girly outfits that she thought would help hide her secret, however she had her own style that still involved accessories. Today, Paige's neck was bare and the studs in her ears were simple- the same ones from the day before.

"I don't want to talk about Alison." Paige shrugged again, turning her attention back to the lunch plate. She picked up her fork and returned to stabbing at the casserole.

"She was just trying to-"

"I know what she was doing," Paige interrupted, looking up to Emily once more. "How was the movie?"

Emily looked confused for a moment. Then it hit her; Alison had been tormenting Paige by asking her to a movie moments before the girl had practically ran from the coffee shop. "I didn't go. Look, I'm really sorry..."

Her words faltered as Paige held up a hand to stop her. The girl had thrown her napkin on the uneaten lunch, got to her feet and gathered the tray. "You aren't the one who should apologize for what Alison does. She never will and we both know that if she did apologize, it would all be a lie."

"Paige-" Emily tried once more.

"I got to go. Bye, Emily."

Emily watched as Paige dumped her tray into the nearest trash can and, instead of going inside the lunchroom doors, turn the corner that would take her to the student parking lot. She'd never seen the girl so detached. Even after Nate and Garrett... Paige had dealt with some PTSD but Emily hadn't ever seen her following Alison's bullying.

_"I was willing to do much worse to myself."_

 

Emily leaned against the headboard of her bed, her Econ book propped up against her knees. She had tried for nearly an hour to concentrate on the reading assignment but her mind kept drifting to Paige's excuse for skipping class. Why did Paige have to know her so well? All she had wanted to do was make sure that Paige was alright after being unwillingly confronted with Alison.

Alison had been trying to call her since the day before without success. Emily didn't know what to say. She'd never stood up to Ali before; she was sure that Alison would yell back at her the way she did when Spencer clashed with the blonde. As angry as she was, Emily was certain that she couldn't handle Ali yelling at her. She had just gotten her best friend back. Alison had promised she'd changed.

Next to her, the tiny screen on her cell phone lit up. Alison's smiling face looked up at her. Emily sighed as she picked up the device and pressed the green talk button. "Hey."

Spencer pulled into the parking lot. Emily hadn't returned to the lunch table after she'd gone to the courtyard to talk to Paige. None of the girls had been able to talk to Emily about what had happened and Paige had gone missing. She hadn't realized how little she knew about her best friend's girlfriend until she'd set out to talk to her. Paige hadn't been found at her house, the Brew or the woods that Emily had mentioned she ran. As she had been driving back through town on her way to the Grille, she'd found Paige's car in the student lot of the school.

Spencer found the door to the natatorium unlocked; Paige must have returned to school for practice and stayed over. As she walked into the pool area, Spencer was rewarded with the image of the object of her search gliding through the water effortlessly.

She made her way toward the edge of the pool and stood watching. Spencer had seen Paige swim during the few times she'd gone to cheer Emily on. It appeared that Paige was swimming leisurely.

"I thought you and Emily fought over that anchor spot," She yelled out as the brunette reached the far end. "Don't you have to be fast to be anchor?"

Paige turned, smiled lightly and swam over to the side of the pool to lift herself out. She picked up her towel and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Emily's not here."

Spencer had crossed her arms over her chest as she strode toward the swimmer and nodded her head slightly. When she'd tried to call Emily, her call had gone unanswered. "Yeah, I know."

On her way to the school, Spencer had seen Emily's car sitting outside of the Grille. Through the window she'd noticed a familiar blonde sitting across from the raven-haired athlete. Alison.

"I came to see you actually." Spencer continued.

Paige had thrown her track-suit jacket on and stuffed her hands deep into the pockets as she stood opposite her ex's best friend. "Why?"

Spencer shrugged. "You dated my best friend for months; it kind of makes us friends, right?"

It had taken a few weeks and near death for Paige to be exonerated as a possible A suspect. Since then, her relationship with Emily's friends had been mostly 'by association.' There hadn't been many instances where she was faced with one of the girls without Emily at her side.

"I couldn't help but notice how distracted Emily was today." Spencer said, testing the waters. "Especially at lunch."

Paige lowered her gaze. First Emily had ambushed her and now Spencer. Would Hanna and Aria be camped out on her doorstep next?

"It was nothing." Paige said as she gathered her few items.

Spencer stepped forward and reached her hand out to the other girl's arm. "Paige... Did something happen yesterday? At the Brew?"

"Before or after Alison showed up and pretended I didn't exist?" Paige asked, her tone a bit harsher than she'd realized.

It suddenly all made sense to Spencer. Emily was searching for Paige because Alison had most likely been her typical grade-A-bitchy self. She watched as Paige threw her goggles and swim cap into her bag and tossed the slightly moist towel over her shoulder.

"Before: it was great." Paige admitted. "We were reading over the folder and she was smiling.:

The image of the few moments between when they'd moved closer together and when Alison had announced herself had been bittersweet, creating a smile and soft blush to cross Paige's face.

"Then Alison came up and asked Emily out. Right in front of me."

Spencer sighed, "She only did that to get a rise out of you."

"Well it worked." Paige said forcefully, before taking a deep breath and dropping her gaze from Spencer once more. "I left."

"You left?"

Paige nodded. "I couldn't sit there and listen to Alison pretend as if Emily and I were never more than friends."

Spencer stood. silently studying the brunette in front of her. Back when they'd played field hockey together, Paige had been fierce. She didn't let anyone push her around the field and gave as well as she took. Then she'd quit playing. It had never occurred to her that Alison's torment had probably caused the sudden disappearance of the tough player Paige had been.

Without warning, Spencer pulled Paige by the shoulders into a bone-crushing hug. Three years ago it hadn't mattered who they'd hurt; Alison DiLaurentis had taken her out of obscurity and made her popular. It wasn't until last year that she'd wished she could take back all the horrible things that she'd done as part of Alison's posse. The people that Ali had tormented were actually pretty great people and very loyal friends.

"Don't give up on her, Paige." Spencer said as she felt the girl's arms lift slowly, awkwardly up to her elbows. "She loves you; anyone with eyes can see it."

Paige grinned lightly, not really happy about the pity pep-talk she was receiving. Spencer pulled away from the hug and smiling, a playful glint in her eyes.

"I bet Jenna can even see it."


	3. Chapter 3

"I wasn't sure you'd meet me." Alison said as Emily joined her.

Emily shook her jacket from her shoulders as she sat down at the small table in the corner of the Apple Rose Grille. When she'd answered her cell, Alison had begged to meet and talk about the day before. It had taken a few moments before she'd agreed.

"Listen, about yesterday..." Alison begun.

Emily remained silent as she laid her jacket across her lap and leaned on the table, one hand dangling down toward her pocket as if she was waiting for her phone to ring with an excuse to leave.

"Isn't this where you tell me that I don't have to say anything?"

"No," Emily said as she shook her head.

Alison watched as Emily's gaze roamed over the room and the table in front of her. The brunette's discomfort was apparent.

"You're going to make me say it?" Alison asked incredulously.

"Don't you think you should?" Emily asked.

"How did things get so messed up?"

Spencer looked to Paige at her sudden question. The pair had left their respective vehicles in the school lot and decided to walk around. A silence had followed the decision as Paige tried to figure out why Emily's friend had suddenly taken to her. Spencer had spent the few moments of silence trying to figure out what to say.

_Alison_ , they both wanted to say. The blonde always seemed to be the center of everything even when she had been, supposedly, dead.

"I don't think things are messed up," Spencer said optimistically. "You and Em just have that Romeo-and-Juliet-type relationship. You've got to fight a little harder than most."

Paige sighed, her fists tugged inward inside her jacket pockets. Rosewood had started to get cooler but the swimmer's actions had nothing to do with being cold. Being in the company of Spencer, talking about her relationship with Emily, was making her instinct to withdraw resurface.

"I'm so tired of fighting." Paige finally admitted. "I've been fighting since Freshman year."

Spencer could only think of one person Paige could be referring to. CeCe had let slip the Alison-Paige rivalry nearly six months ago without even realizing.

"It started with a letter," Paige continued, keeping her gaze forward. "I think I still have it somewhere, actually. When I found it, and read it... I thought it was from Emily."

"Alison." Spencer nodded slightly.

Paige nodded slowly. "That letter made me start questioning who I was. Alison used it to torture me. Do you know what it's like to hate yourself?"

Spencer looked forward and nodded her head. "Yeah."

"Enough that you thought about..." Paige dug her hands into her pockets further.

Spencer furrowed her brows briefly before pulling her hand out and reaching over to halt Paige's progression down the sidewalk. "You?"

It was a secret that Paige had only told one other person, Emily. Not even her parents knew the extent of Alison's bullying. She'd been so close one afternoon, standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom.

"When I couldn't decide how to do it, I realized that Alison would win no matter if I took some pills or..." Paige glanced up to Spencer before continuing down the sidewalk. "I did a lot of stupid stuff because I was scared. Most of which was directed at Emily."

"She forgave you," Spencer pointed out. "Which is more than I can say for the rest of us."

Paige smiled lightly, turning to knock her elbow against Spencer's. "You were just being protective. I understand."

 

"Alright," Alison said as she waited for Emily to finally face her. Determination fueled her; she would get one of her girls back.

Emily finally looked toward the blonde sitting across from her. So many times in the past few months, when Alison would appear to her, the girl had professed that she'd changed. Hiding and running had taught her, showed her how she treated people.

"I guess I was a bit of a bitch yesterday," Alison said as she lowered her gaze to the table.

Emily scoffed lightly, earning Alison's questioning glare. "That's a bit of an understatement, don't you think?"

"I couldn't help it," Alison yelled. Emily noticed several neighboring table occupants look in their directions. Alison alone had been captivating attention since her return but her outburst had only earned more. "When I saw you two together..."

Emily looked down to the table. Alison's pinkie was twitching as if she was fighting the urge to move her entire hand to close the six inch gap between their hands. Three years ago, when she'd first kissed Alison, Emily had only been able to dream that Ali had feelings for her too.

"I know it must not seem fair," Alison spoke softly. "Me asking you not to see Paige. When CeCe first told me that you two were together, I didn't want to believe it. I'm not trying to discourage you with the whole grade thing but the thought of you two spending time together again." Alison paused before catching Emily's gaze head-on. "I'm jealous; how can I compete with the relationship you two had?"

"You can't," Emily answered honestly, causing Alison to hang her head down. "You shouldn't. Relationships are different for everyone. My relationship with Paige was different from my relationship with Maya and my relationship with Samara. You can't recreate a relationship with someone that involved another person."

"Emily," Alison said as she finally moved her hand toward the brunette. Emily quickly sat further back in her chair, dropping her hand into her lap. "I was horrible, I know that. I can't take it back; if I could, I'd do it right now."

"Do you know anything about the people that you constantly made fun of?" Emily asked suddenly, looking directly at the blonde in front of her. "Do you know that Mona is a genius? Have you seen any of Lucas' photographs? How about that Paige got a full scholarship to Stanford?"

The silence that had fallen over the two brunettes had lasted half a block before Spencer opened her mouth again. "Listen I understand why you did what you did; in her own way, so does Emily."

This was the last conversation she wanted to have. Emily had made it quite clear that she was more than upset with her protective actions. Paige didn't need to hear her ex's best friend verbally lash out at her as well.

"With all of this A stuff, finding people we can trust is a bit harder than usual." Spencer explained. "Emily trusted you with something that she wouldn't even tell us about."

Paige nodded slowly, knowing exactly where the other girl was going. "I know I broke a promise, that I can only blame myself for her breaking up with me. In my defense..."

"You love her." Spencer answered for her. "I understand protecting the person you love. We've all done it."

"Yea but I screwed up... again. Seems that's all I've ever done in my relationship with Emily."

"That isn't true." Spencer paused, stopping Paige once more. "You were there for her when she was grieving; how many people do you know that would stick around listening to someone they like cry over someone else?"

The swimmer looked down, her face glowing a tint of red. Paige had always found compliments hard to take; the attention made her nervous.

"I had never seen Emily as happy as I did after your little late night swim." Paige looked up once more. Spencer merely nodded, acknowledging the unasked question. "And the Halloween train? I don't even want to know where you two ran off to before you kicked ass."

The two girls shared a soft laugh as they continued to walk the sidewalk. "You've been nothing but good for Emily."

Paige dipped her head once more, her mind only clinging to the events from the Brew. "You're forgetting something. Emily was in love with Alison-"

"Was." Spencer stated.

Paige continued as if she hadn't heard the hopeful statement. "And Alison is alive. She's back in Rosewood."

"God, Paige. You can't give up on Em." This time it was Paige who stopped their progression through Rosewood and turned to face her nemesis-turned-friend. "Emily loves you."

Spencer's statement seemed to echo in her ears as she noticed something over the girl's shoulder. She'd noticed two girls inside the Grille, sitting very close. Paige felt her heart sing as the blonde leaned toward the other until their eyes fluttered closed and their lips met.

"That doesn't look like she loves me."

Spencer furrowed her eyebrows as she turned to look at what had caught the swimmer's gaze. The sight in front of her made her stomach churn and the breath escape her lungs. Feeling a flutter of hair brush her shoulder, Spencer turned back to find Paige already halfway across the street at a full speed run.

"Paige!"

The girl didn't stop, didn't slow down, nor did she give any indication she'd heard Spencer call after her.

The numbers on her phone seemed to taunt her. In less than a minute the bell would ring and she'd be late for Econ. Even through all the voices inside the room, Paige could hear Emily's melodious laughter. Ms. Sawyer usually started her lessons as soon as the bell rang. If Paige could time it just right, she'd enter the room in time for the bell to ring and the lesson to start as she made her way to the side of her double desk near the windows. Emily wouldn't have a moment to question her appearance again.

She'd been glad to find a note from her parents about going to a work function and would return late. Seeing the kiss had been excruciating; the more Spencer had talked, the more she'd been able to believe that she shouldn't give up. Her love for Emily hadn't diminished at all despite the girl ripping her heart out.

Paige sighed before turning and entering the classroom with the bell following as she passed the teachers desk. The smile on Emily's lips made her realize that she was sporting a similar smile.

"Alright, guys." Ms. Sawyer said as Paige dropped her bag. "Your first journal entry will be part of your weekend homework."

The two girls briefly glanced at each other as the swimmer pulled their folder out of her bag. With the announcement of a weekend assignment their eyes found the blackboard at the front of the room.

_The wife (Paige) has learned of the husband's (Emily) infidelity. Couples attend counseling and remain together. In a journal entry, write your feelings in regard to learning the secret and the decision to remain in the relationship._

"Now as I explained before, Paige, you will be doing the journal entry this weekend as if you've learned that Emily has cheated on you. As teenagers, I'm sure that you can all dig deep and really think about what your reactions would be if you were actually in this situation. Any questions?"

The room stayed quiet except for pens scratching as students wrote down the journal instructions. Paige felt as if the teacher was staring right at her as she wrote. How did Ms. Sawyer know that she'd found Emily in a heartbreaking position?

"Paige?" Emily asked, looking down at the folder in front of her. "Do you want me to write it down?"

Instantly the daze was broken. She opened the folder and began to copy down the assignment.

"I will be grading the journal entries as well. So I really want you to be honest in your entries. Ladies, you will turn in your binders as you walk into class on Monday." Ms. Sawyer said. "Now, today we're moving on to Chapter Fourteen."

Paige completed writing down her assignment in the folder. Emily had told her before that she'd been in love with Alison and that the blonde had let Emily kiss her once. Somehow hearing that it had happened once was easier than actually seeing it happen. The image resurfaced in her mind, she could see herself running back toward the school, she could hear Spencer calling after her again.

Finding the emotion to write this journal entry would be a piece of cake. If she could get through the assignment without losing too much of her already shattered heart.


	4. Chapter 4

It was 7 o'clock on Saturday night. Paige, with hair still wet from her swim, lay across her bed with her Econ marriage binder open in front of her. Her pen flew across the notebook paper with ease as words mindlessly filled half of the page so far.

"I would have thought you'd be out with Emily."

Paige turned and looked toward her open door. Her mother, Elizabeth, stood smiling at her as she worked a soft beige towel through her own wet hair.

"As a matter of fact, I haven't seen or heard of Emily in a few weeks." Beth said, entering the room and settling on the edge of her daughter's bed.

Paige returned to her previous position and continued writing. "We had a disagreement."

Even as the words left her mouth, Paige mentally kicked herself. Her mother was devoted to her. Beth McCullers had been the neutral party when she'd first came out; calming Paige as she cried under her father's unbelieving gaze. 

"You're fighting?" Beth instantly questioned, reaching her hand out to cover one of Paige's calves in comfort. "What happened?"

"I did something I thought was right," Paige answered vaguely. "Emily disagreed."

Beth pat her daughter's leg in order to gain her attention. "If you could go back, knowing that it would cause a fight, would you still do it?"

Paige hadn't anticipated that question. She knew that Emily's friends understood her desire to protect the former swimmer. Digging into the worst-case mindset, Paige had a feeling that Emily and Alison assumed that she'd wrote the letter out of spite. Maybe, despite all her arguments of only thinking of Emily and keeping her safe, she had turned Alison in to the cops in retaliation. A was after Alison, after all; she deserved the torment, not Emily and her friends.

"Yes," Paige finally spoke.

"Then don't back off of your decision, embrace it." Beth encouraged. "If there's one thing I've learned from being married to your father- forgiveness is a choice."

Paige sighed and returned her attention to her notebook. "I don't know if I can forgive her."

Beth pursed her lips, reached over her daughter's shoulder and closed the binder. Paige quickly pushed herself up. "Mom-"

"When you first told your dad and I that you liked girls instead of boys- that you'd been seeing Emily," Paige turned to face her mother, remembering the conversation immediately. "I thought that maybe it was a phase; then when I saw you two together..."

"Mom-"

"I saw it. I saw my happy little girl return for the first time in almost five years." Beth shook her head. "If it was Emily that gave my baby back to me-"

"Do you remember Nate?" Paige suddenly asked.

Beth paused, stiffening slightly at the mention of the boy's name. Nate had been the complete opposite of Emily- he’d tried to steal her daughter from her forever. 

"Do you remember when I came home after seeing Emily kissing him? When you told me that it was their connection that had caused the kiss and not any true emotion?" Beth nodded silently. "I saw her kissing Alison."

"Oh, baby." Beth scooted closer and pulled her daughter into her arms. “When?”

“Thursday.” Paige pulled away from her mother’s hug, allowing her to wipe a tear from her cheek. “Spencer came to talk to me…”

Beth nodded her head slightly, sliding her hand over her daughter’s knee. “I’m glad you had someone to talk to. There was a time that you talked to me; told me everything.”

Paige chuckled softly. Before high school, before swimming became her future, life had been typical. Complete with imaginary friends, swimming lessons, family vacations, and the occasional punishment. 

“Come on, Doodle; talk to me.”

Paige groans slightly. “Mom-”

 

_Explain supply and demand. What are the effects on the consumer?_

Paige tried once again to concentrate on the paper in front of her. The moment the bell had rang Ms. Sawyer had asked that the marriage folders be passed up to the front as she passed out a pop quiz. Since then, Paige had been gazing from the binder on her desk to the paper in front of her. Next to her, oblivious, Emily had already turned to the back page of the quiz. 

“Five minutes,” Ms. Sawyer announced as she opened the blue folder belonging to Paige and Emily. 

_What is a legal entity owned by individual stockholders?_

After her talk with her mother, after telling her everything about Alison including the bullying and suicide thoughts, Paige had returned to her assignment the morning before. She’d reread what she’d written before tearing the notebook paper from the binder and starting fresh. An hour and tons of soul searching later Paige had closed the book. 

“Ok, pencils down.” Ms. Sawyer said as she stacked up the folders again. “Ladies, if you’ll gather your partner’s quiz and bring them to the front. Emily, you as well.”

Paige felt her heart drop; she’d forgotten that Emily would also have to do journal entries. Which meant that Emily would be able to read her answer to catching Emily in a hypothetical scenario of infidelity.

 

“It was disgusting."

Hanna and Aria sat next to each other across from Spencer at their usual table inside the cafeteria. The brilliant brunette used Emily's tardiness to fill her other two best friends in on what had happened Friday night. However, the duo was in denial; the group had decided to cut their friendship with Alison after realizing she hadn't changed at all after returning from the dead. 

"I don't believe it," Hanna retorted.

"Deny it all you want, Han. I was there, I saw it." Spencer reiterated. "But that's not even the worst part."

Aria's eyes were locked in Spencer. What could possibly be worse than finding your best friend and your frenemy making out in the middle of a busy restaurant.

"I was with Paige." 

Silence followed Spencer's statement. Aria instantly realized why that was 'worse.'

"Wait a minute," Hanna spoke. "Why were you with Paige?"

Spencer's brows knitted together, unsure of why it really mattered. Then again, she deduced, Hanna had a tendency of honing in on the unimportant details. 

"Because she's in love with our best friend; because she's done nothing but try to protect Em- all of us, really." Spencer reminded Hanna. "I went to tell her not to give up on Emily."

Aria nodded, "Spencer's right; even when we suspected her of being A, Paige has never once tried to hurt us."

"She has every right to hate Alison." Spencer informed them. "Ali tortured her more than anyone. Even more than Mona."

The group sat quietly for a moment. Behind the two girls, Spencer spotted Paige pick up her uneaten lunch and walk toward the lunchroom door. 

"I'd never seen Paige look so hurt." Spencer continued, making eye contact with the girl as she pulled open the door. "I'm sure it had more to do with who she'd seen Emily kissing than the fact that Em was with another girl."

A few moments of natural silence was broken as Emily finally joined the table. She smiled as her bag hit the floor below her feet. "Hey."

Aria and Hanna smiled in return, Spencer hadn't moved as she continued to stare at the lunchroom door. Her attention was immediately gained by Hanna.

"So Em, how was your weekend? What'd you do on Friday?"

Aria and Spencer stared at her, silently asking if she was crazy or certifiably insane.

"Um," Emily noticed the glares Hanna was receiving. "Nothing really."

"Really? Not even out on a date or anything?" Hanna inquired once more.

"Hanna," Aria warned before Spencer could.

She was missing something, Emily was sure of it. "No, no date."

The lie was one too many. Spencer immediately got to her feet, picked up her bag and tray. "I've got to go."

The three watched as their best friend emptied her lunch into a trash can and left through the same lunchroom door as Paige.

"Is she okay?" Emily asked.

Aria shrugged as she picked at her food. "She mentioned seeing something disgusting the other night."

 

Spencer stopped in the semi-empty hall as the lunchroom door shut behind her. She couldn't quite figure out who or what she was mad at. They'd all lied to each other countless times over the last two years; she and Emily had been angry at each other a few times but, like all true friends, it always made their friendship stronger. Emily was supposed to be her best friend but at the moment, she was so angry at how she'd hurt Paige. 

It was no secret that she hadn't always trusted Emily's girlfriend but Paige had proven her loyalty on more than one occasion. Spencer's memory instantly pulled up the Halloween train and how Paige had materialized from nowhere to save her. The swimmer had almost lost her life trying to protect Emily just weeks prior. Was this seriously how Emily was going to thank Paige for her selflessness?

"I have nothing to say to you," Spencer heard a familiar voice say. Turning her gaze to the left she saw the swimmer talking to someone around the corner. 

"Good," Spencer groaned at the sound of the voice. "You'll have no excuse to follow my directions."

Spencer started walking toward the unlikely pairing. Paige hadn't trusted her with knowledge of Alison's abuse so she'd continue to allow the venomous bullying. Alison took a step forward, her arms crossed over her chest as she came into Spencer's view. "Stay away from Emily, Pigskin. She's in love with me; you're nothing."

Paige’s gaze dropped as she stood in front of the blonde. Slowly, she crossed her arms over her abdomen as if trying to deflect the statement.

_Alison let me kiss her once._

"The difference is," Spencer stated as she joined the duo, linking her arm thru Paige's. "You're not in love with Emily; you used her, and us, to come back to Rosewood."

Alison's gaze fixed on Spencer. Just weeks ago their friendship had came back from the dead, just as Ali had. The novelty quickly wore off as Spencer realized that Alison was still up to her old tricks. 

"Come on, Paige; you've got a pop quiz in Trig today."

Spencer could feel the tension in Paige's arm as she lead her away from her old friend who continued to try and berate the swimmer ("Enjoy being fake married, Pigskin; it's the only one you'll ever have!"). She quickly turned down a hallway that lead nowhere near where they needed to go; it was merely to get out of Alison's sight.

"Don't listen to her, Paige. Even Alison knows that she's a bitch."

Paige nodded slowly, "I know, it's just... gah, what did I ever do to her? I never stood out when we were kids. If anything, I blended in. What made me one of her 'special' victims?"

Spencer pulled the girl closer to her side. "You're a threat to her." A smile met Paige's disbelieving gaze. "You're smart, athletic, loyal, courteous... Plus, you're hot."

Paige fought the grin from forming on her face without success. Spencer glanced over to see if she had been able to cheer the swimmer up and smiled. Their friendship hadn't started to great but Paige was actually someone she could have seen herself befriending had it not been for Alison.

Spencer felt the mood shift once more as Paige's smile instantly vanished. She turned to see if Alison (or Emily, for that matter) had followed them into the hallway. 

"Paige?" Spencer questioned timidly as the girl's brown orbs returned to her own. "You okay?"

"Do I seriously have a quiz in Trig?"

Spencer started laughing as she walked further down the hall as Paige ran after her, begging to know if it was true.

 

Emily worked the eggshell-colored towel through her hair as she returned to her bedroom. The day was finally over; school, swim practice, work... It had all been completed with just enough time to shower and go through her homework. 

Thankfully, the Brew hadn't been to busy do Emily had been able to read ahead by almost two chapters in the latest novel for English. Spencer had promised to deliver some notes on Catherine the Great for her History paper that was due at the end of the following week. Which left her assignment for Economics. It was her job to calculate their budget for a month, determine their petty cash and then divide it between the two of them to pay off student loans.

Em pulled the blue binder from her stack of books. The financial section of their binder was just before the larger Journal section. Paige had spent the first night arraigning and organizing their binder (History, Life Details, Finances, Journal) using neon colored dividers. As she ran her fingers down the tabs, Emily's eye fixated on the Journal tab. 

The journal entry Paige was faced with seemed to have been irony smacking Emily in the face, having been assigned the day after Alison mysteriously kissed her while at the Grille on Thursday night. She still couldn't figure out why Alison had suddenly kissed her and then acted as if it hadn't happened moments later.

With a sigh, Emily moved past the Finances tab and flipped to the Journal. She ran her fingers over Paige's neat, tidy script writing before she began to read:

_What was once the happiest time of my life turned a complete nightmare in just one moment. I wish I could say that it is a one-time thing; however that wouldn’t be the case. Early on in our relationship I witnessed a similar occurrence of infidelity. At the time Emily was in mourning, therefore I wrote it off as a single moment of despair. We were able to move on from that moment without a second look._  
Sure, we’ve had disagreements like any couple. I’ve admitted fault when I needed to and I’ve stood my ground when I needed to. Our relationship has grown into one of understanding and love. At times we can both be a bit protective of one another which does infuriate the protectee, heh.   
I think that hurt the most about Emily’s infidelity the second time was that I didn’t learn about it from her. She wasn’t even aware that I noticed the action taking place. While finding her kissing someone else was painful, it wasn’t the worst part. The pain rivaled the feeling of embarrassment. At the moment I found her with another woman’s lips against her own, I had been with one of her best friends.   
Her friend had just told me all of these great things, reminded me of great moments in our relationship, and seeing Emily in that moment- having her friend see her at that moment- I ran away. 

Emily couldn’t read anymore. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears as she closed the binder harder than she had intended. Something about the journal entry made her feel increasingly guilty. Suddenly the day’s events seemed to smack her in the face: Paige had barely said two words to her during class and had skipped swim practice, Spencer couldn’t even look at her and then left the lunchroom minutes after she’d sat down next to her, Hanna inquiring about her weekend and then Aria’s comment about Spencer seeing something ‘disgusting.’

She got up from her desk and grabbed her cell from her bed, dialing Spencer’s phone. Emily wasn’t surprised that it took a few rings for the other girl to answer. 

“Spence,” Emily stated quickly. “Were you with Paige on Friday night?”


	5. Chapter 5

Emily stormed through the hallway of Rosewood High the next day. The night before, after convincing Spencer not to hang up, she'd spent nearly an hour on the phone listening to her friend tell her exactly what she and Paige had seen. 

Following a difficult night of sleep, Em woke from a dream at five o'clock. The dream made her realize that once again the kiss had meant nothing to Alison. She'd gotten up and tried to clear her head by going for a run. However, even the burning in her calves and lungs didn't diminish the hurt and anger that the dream had created.

Finally she saw the familiar blonde hair of Alison standing in front of her locker. Emily strode up to her friend and shut the metal door causing Alison to look up at her in disbelief.

"Tell me it isn't true." Emily said. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Alison said defensively.

Emily scoffed in response, "Yes, you do. You saw Paige standing outside, didn't you?"

Alison pursed her lips; the former swimmer had changed more than she realized. Emily had never challenged her in the past. She was the quiet, shy puppy dog who hung on her every smile.

"I can't believe you'd be so cruel."

Alison's signature smirk crossed her face. "I thought I had made it clear that you were off limits. Then I saw Pigskin looking at you-"

The high-pitched snap echoed through the entire hall, gaining the attention of everyone in the vicinity. Alison raised a hand to cover her stinging cheek as she returned to gaze to the angry chocolate orbs of Emily Fields.

"I told you to _never_ call her that again." Emily fumed. "Her name is Paige and she's ten times the friend you ever were."

Emily moved past the speechless Ali to continue down the hallway but stopped after a few steps. Paige stood in the middle of the hallway, her left hand gripped so tight around the strap of her bag that her knuckles were white. Their eyes met and instantly she knew that Paige had witnessed the exchange. 

"Paige," Emily said as she took a few more steps forward. "Paige, I'm sorry. I didn't know that-"

The brunette closed her eyes as she shook her head. "You broke up with me, Emily." Paige reminded the girl as she opened her eyes and consciously tried to relax her grip. "You don't have to be sorry for kissing someone."

"She kissed me," Emily insisted. 

"You kissed her back, Emily." Paige said monotonously. "I would know."

Emily didn't have anything to say. Paige had been right; it had only been for a moment but she had started to return the kiss before Alison broke the kiss, sat back and began to peruse the menu once more. In hindsight, it should have tipped her off that Alison was being less than truthful. 

“Please,” Emily’s voice came out softly. “Can we just talk? After school.”

Paige looked into the eyes of her former girlfriend, straight into the pain and guilt. It broke her heart all over again. She wanted so much to say yes, to meet, to forgive her and go back to the way they used to be. From the moment Emily had walked away from her and drove off with Hanna and the others, she’d wanted nothing more than to pull her into a kiss and never let her go.

She could feel her throat start to constrict as she fought her emotions. Paige refused to let Emily see how much she had hurt her. Swallowing hard, she shrugged her shoulders as she spoke hoarsely. “I can’t.” 

Emily opened her mouth to ask the girl to reconsider but was immediately interrupted by Paige’s emotion filled voice, one that was on the verge of genuine tears. “I’ll see you in Econ.”

A few moments passed as the pair continued to look into each others eyes before Paige lowered her gaze and moved past Emily, disappearing into her first period class. 

 

_A death in the family claims your attention. Four days away from the couple’s jobs follows. Adjust your finances accordingly._

Emily opens the binder and turns to the Financial portion. Her homework hadn’t been completed from the previous day. At the end of the week she’d need to turn in their binder, she’d probably have to skip swim practice today to catch up on all the calculations. Emily quickly made a notation to extract the money from their weekly income. Glancing down at the numbers that they’d already calculated- there wouldn’t be much to put toward the student loans. 

“It’s seven hundred and forty.” Paige said as she claimed her seat at their shared table. 

Chocolate eyes found chestnut ones as the two turned toward each other. It seemed that Paige had finally found her voice in the few hours separating their last meeting. Emily watched as the girl took her textbook and other supplies from her bag; she was at a loss. Paige had sounded so lost that morning, she’d been acting nervous for weeks whenever they were close. 

“The adjustment,” Paige said, not really looking at her. 

She still couldn’t blame Paige for wanting to be angry with her. She’d felt the same after finding out that Paige had dated Shana during the summer and not told her. “Thanks.”

With the bell calling the students in the various classes to order, Emily continued to look at Paige. It appeared that the girl had attempted to return to her normal self. She'd layered a short white shirt under her sleeveless blue jean vest along with a long black cord that she'd doubled and used as a necklace. The former swimmer couldn't deny that her partner looked amazing. 

"Paige," Emily attempted.

"Em," Paige said, ducking her head. "Please, I'm not ready." She paused again, looking up to face Emily. "You owe me time."

It was like a blow directly to her throat. She literally felt air escape her lungs at the comment. It was in that moment Emily realized just how much she’d hurt the opposite girl. Perhaps not in the same way as Alison had repeatedly hurt her but most likely just as painful. 

“I’m sorry,” Emily’s voice came out barely above a whisper. Paige turned her attention back toward the front of the class and began to take notes as Ms. Sawyer began the lecture. 

 

More than a week had past since their exchange in Ms. Sawyer’s class room. Emily had accepted Paige’s request for space, only speaking in class and the occasional greeting in the hallways. She’d distracted herself by helping a new, young swimmer on the team. The girl was already showing improvement, according to the coach. Emily had filled in extra time with work, school work and jogging twice a day. 

“Em, this isn’t healthy.” Spencer said as the girl joined her, setting two cups of coffee on the table in front of them. 

“I don’t really care about healthy right now.” Emily sat next to her and pulled the spoon out of the whipped cream.

Spencer kept an eye on Emily as she continously ate at the whipped cream that topped her own decaf coffee. Her behavior had been off since the day after she’d confronted Alison. The news of their falling out had spread like wildfire through Rosewood High and Emily had become some sort of celebrity to students who were less than thrilled to have Alison back in Rosewood. Even those who were neutral seemed impressed with Emily’s outburst. 

“How are you doing?” Spencer asked cautiously. 

“Fantastic,” Emily said sarcastically, not looking up.

Spencer pursed her lips, nodding her head slightly. “I take it that things with Paige aren’t going so great.”

"Who said anything about Paige?"

Spencer scoffed as she lowered her coffee cup. "Uh, you, like, all week."

Emily remained silent as she started to play with the whipped cream rather than eating it.

"You're not alone, you know." Spencer said as she tried to earn her friend's attention. "Paige has, not so subtly, been asking about you for the past week."

Emily quickly looked to her friend. "She has?"

Spencer nodded. After Emily had lied (there was still debate on whether her answers had been lies or not), it took a few days for Spencer to forgive her completely- phone call or not. She'd shared lunch with Paige for three days before slowly making her way back to the group. While no one was actually taking sides, Spencer felt that Paige needed a friend.

"She practically turned our evening workouts into a rundown of your day." Spencer admitted. "She's hurting but she still loves you more than anything."

Emily lowered her gaze into her coffee cup once more. "I'm such an idiot."

Spencer shrugged a shoulder, nodding her head a bit. "Alison has that effect on people."

"I don't care about Alison anymore." Emily cried out suddenly.

Spencer was shocked as she held her hands up, "Easy; I got it."

Emily wasn't known for losing her cool and it generally meant that she was exceeding her limit of emotional stress. Distractions weren't working for her very well. Spencer watched as Emily continued to play with her beverage; she hadn't seen her friend so flustered since she was hiding in the closet.

"What I had with Paige was so genuine." Emily admitted. "And I went and threw it all away. For what?"

Spencer looked at her for a moment, trying to gauge what exactly her friend was feeling. "Can't you fix it?"

Emily shook her head as she leaned forward to put her coffee on the table in front of them. "She won't talk to me. Anything outside of the marriage project and she shuts down."

"That can't be true. Aren't you the assistant coach or something? You see her at swim practice--"

"Yeah and she avoids me there." Emily confided, her voice sounding as if she was being yelled at for stealing cookies from the jar. "I've mostly been working with Freshman and that new girl, Sydney."

The young Hastings suddenly felt like she was living in a really bad commercial for an online dating service. It was clear, to her anyway, that both girls were still in love with each other. They'd already been through so much together; Spencer thought back to the times that Emily hid Toby inside her house so that they could see each other during the few weeks that her parents had forbade her from seeing him. 

Spencer sat her cup down on the table next to Emily's and sat forward. The look in her eyes was one of rampant determination. "Okay, that's it. I'm going to help you."

"What?" Emily looked over at her friend. Spencer's determined no-nonsense gaze met hers. Emily knew that look all to well over the last two years.

"I'm going to help you get your girlfriend back." Spencer furrowed her brow for a moment. "There's something I never thought I'd say." She recovered quickly, smiling at Emily eagerly. "And years from now when you two have your first daughter--"

"Whoa, whoa, Spence." Emily smiled at her friend's enthusiasm. "She won't talk to me remember?"

"Yes but you have three amazingly conniving friends to help you." Spencer smiled. "That is... Do you want Paige back?"

 

Two days had passed before the four girls were able to get together. The group sat at the Grille while waiting for the dinner they’d ordered. The moment that Spencer had told Aria and Hanna about her project to help Emily get Paige back, both girls had jumped on board. Aria had second period with Paige and had talked to Connor about changing seats (Connor sat behind Paige but had a crush on the girl that sat to Aria’s left). The group was rallying behind their friend and immersing themselves into Paige’s day-to-day life as well. Playing spy in Emily’s relationship was much safer than trying to find A’s identity.

“How about a picnic in the courtyard?” Hanna suddenly said, gaining the attention of the other three. “What? Aren’t picnics kind of your thing?”

“My thing?”

“Yours and Paige’s.” Aria clarified. 

“I know what she meant,” Emily glanced at the girl. “Why do you say that picnics are our thing?”

Spencer sat up straighter as she joined the conversation. “Didn’t you say that was your first date? Paige invited you to a picnic?”

“Remember when I needed you to follow Caleb?” Hanna reminded. “You were having a picnic with Paige at school.”

Emily nodded, rolling her eyes a bit. “Yeah, I remember, ok.” 

Spencer leaned forward, folding her arms on the edge of the table. “Ok, so a picnic; got an idea of what you’d like to have at this surprise win-Paige-back date?”

A soft smile formed on the ex-swimmer’s lips as she stared into the tabletop. “Leave the food to me.”

 

Emily had spent most of Sunday evening cooking the picnic she planned to take to school with her. She’d made some of Paige’s favorites and gathered some fruit to have as their desert. It was almost eleven o’clock when Pam walked in the back door to find her daughter closing the container of fruit. 

“You’re up late. Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Emily sighed. “I was just finishing up with this.”

Pam set her bag on the island and looked at the empty, open basket. The numerous Tupperware containers were stacked up next to it with a pair of plates, silverware and a bottle of sparkling cider.

“Is something going on that I should know about?”

Emily looked down at the containers, gathering a stack and putting the fruit into the fridge. “No.” She turned to see her mother’s questioning gaze. “It’s a picnic. For me and Paige.”

Pam moved closer to her daughter with a slight smile on her face. The last thing she wanted to do was to assume the wrong thing. “So you two aren’t fighting anymore?”

“We aren’t doing anything right now.” Emily confessed.

This caught Pam’s attention. It hadn’t taken her long to realize that her daughter and Paige had taken some time away from each other; it only took one question for Pam to understand that her daughter’s relationship with her girlfriend was on shaky ground and it was causing an emotional strain on Emily. 

Emily sat down on a stool next to the island, picking up a cloth napkin and started folding it. “I really messed up with Paige. I’ve been trying to give her time like she asked.”

Pam remained silent, allowing her daughter to talk through her problem all on her own. She couldn’t hide the pride she felt at how her daughter had grown into a responsible, respectful young woman. 

“I want to make it right,” Emily looked up at her mother. “I want my girlfriend back; I love her.”

“What’s stopping you?”

Last year, this conversation would have caused an explosive argument with her mother. Pam Fields had really evolved as a parent. 

“She hardly talks to me. I’m afraid she’ll say no; that she doesn’t want… us, anymore.”

Pam walked up to her daughter. She reached out her hand to lift the girl’s chin. “You’ll never know unless you try. Maybe it’s your turn to show Paige how much she means to you.”

 

Emily walked into the courtyard and quickly found her three friends setting up the picnic lunch that Spencer had planned out. The food was set out, Hanna had downloaded a playlist to Emily’s phone and had it plugged into the portable speaker and Aria had set a small vase with three Gerbera Daisies between the two plates. 

“Wow,” Emily breathed as she took in the layout. 

“What do you think?” Aria said as she stepped back from the table. “I wasn’t sure what flowers Paige liked so I just picked something simple.” 

“I’ve never planned a date for two girls before,” Hanna spoke to no one in particular, earning a look of disbelief from Spencer. 

“Ok,” Spencer said, taking charge. “I texted Paige this morning asking her to meet me in the courtyard at lunch. So, we should probably get out of here before she shows up.”

“You’ll text us after lunch?” Aria asked, grabbing her bag. 

Emily nodded before lowering her own bag to the ground and sitting down. This was the moment of truth. Paige would come out to find her waiting. She felt her heart hammering in her chest; Paige could just as easily turn around once she realized that Spencer had set her up. 

Looking at the spread in front of her, she had to give it to her friends. They’d made the small picnic look cozy and romantic, much like that first picnic the two had shared in the middle of the woods. 

“Em?”

Looking up, Emily was met with Paige’s chestnut-colored eyes gazing over the table in front of her. The ghosts of previous picnic dates danced behind the swimmer’s orbs; loving picnics that had consisted of little food and lots of kissing. 

“What’s going on? Where’s Spencer?”

It was Emily’s turn to duck her head slightly. “She’s not here. I asked her to send you that text.”

“Why?” Paige asked, curious. 

“I wanted to apologize,” Emily said, sounding stronger than she felt. “I’m sorry for hurting you. If I could take it back, I would. In a second.” Noticing Paige start to speak, Emily quickly continued. “I know I can’t take that kiss back. All I can do is promise you that it’ll never happen again. With anyone.”

Paige stood, one hand grasping the strap of her bag while the other was nestled halfway in her pants pocket. She watched as Emily looked down at the table, picked up a flower from the vase and took a step toward her. 

“Paige, will you have lunch with me?” Emily asked.


	6. Chapter 6

_Emily searched Paige’s eyes frantically as she held the barista’s gaze. It pained her to see the uncertainty clouding the swimmers chestnut orbs. Emily fought the urge to shy away from the intense hold as Paige battled internally over her answer to the question._

I want my girlfriend back; I love her. _She’d told her mother that the night before and it seemed to play on repeat inside her mind as Paige lowered her gaze, taking in the layout of the picnic once more. The silence was becoming pure torture as she waited for Paige’s answer while still holding the golden flower out._

_Emily felt her heart rate increase and cease all in the same moment as Paige returned her attention to the girl in front of her, slowly reaching her hand out to take the proffered flower and inhaling the aroma._

_"Aria wasn't sure what your favorite was so she guessed." Emily spoke as the swimmer still held her eye. "It made me realize that I'm not aware of your preference either."_

_Paige smiled softly (once more it didn't quite reach her eyes) and lowered her bag off her shoulder. "She was close; Gerbera Daisies are your favorite."_

_Emily smiled softly, feeling her heart swell into her stomach as Paige sat down in front of the meal. It took her a moment before she took her own seat and reminded herself that it was too soon to take Paige's hand in her own._

_"I really am sorry," Emily started. "I guess I really wanted to believe that Ali had changed."_

_"Forget it." Paige said as she lowered her gaze to the empty plate in front of her._

_"No. I-- After Spence told me what you'd seen, I finally realized what a self-centered, manipulative bully she is." Emily confessed. "I would never intentionally hurt you, Paige; please believe me."_

_"I know that," Paige mumbled, her hands lying atop the flower that rest against her lap._

_The former swimmer inhaled deeply and tried to recall the speech she'd thought about all morning- she was going to need to ask Aria for the English assignment because of her scattered attention. Of course, now that it was time for her to plead for another chance, the words had escaped her memory._

_Paige looked up after several moments of silence to find Emily opening her mouth to speak before closing it again. "Are you okay?"_

_It was so Paige; she had every right to be angry with her yet she was concerned instead. It reminded her of a conversation they'd had at the beginning of their relationship. Emily was still mourning Maya but she had wanted to be at Emily's side during the murder trial; to comfort her after losing her first girlfriend._

_"I admit that I've made some mistakes and I'd do anything to take them back. I'm relieved that Alison is alive, I won't lie, but I'm finished with that friendship." Emily said earnestly, honestly. "I know that we can't just pick up where we were; I hurt you too much. I'm hoping that maybe you'll let me try to earn your trust back. Maybe see if we can be together again," Emily lowered her voice and her gaze. "I still love you, Paige."_

_"I love you too, Em." Emily looked up suddenly, hoping against all hope. "You're right, though; you hurt me. I know some might say it's payback for the letter--"_

_"It's not." Emily interrupted._

_"We've unintentionally hurt each other but I know that it wasn't maliciously." Paige held Emily's eye. "I can't apologize for telling the cops about Alison; I was trying to protect you. I am sorry that it made you question your trust in me."_

_Emily nodded lightly as she thought back to the night she'd walked away from Paige as she had come to apologize. "I was wrong; I do trust you." She felt her hand twitch, wanting to reach for Paige's. "The question remains."_

“And?” Hanna asked incredulously. 

Emily shrugged a shoulder as she gathered the three coffee cups from the table in front of her. The three had waited at the Brew after school until Emily showed up following her duties as student coach on the swim team. 

“Did she forgive you with a kiss?” Hanna smiled, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Hanna,” Spencer cut in as Aria tried to hide the small smile on her own face. 

“What?” Hanna asked innocently. “I thought that was the whole point: to help Em get Paige back.”

"No," Emily interjected. "We didn't kiss; I know that I really messed up this time and I've got to earn her trust back."

"Yeah but-"

"The thing is, I know how she feels." Emily told them as she sat down next to Aria, glancing up at the boy behind the counter. "I was hurt when I found out about her dating Shana; I can't expect her to forgive me over a lunch period."

"But," Spencer inquired. "Is she going to give you the chance to make up for the whole Ali thing?"

The three girls looked at Emily with bated breath. It almost seemed as if their own futures relied on the answer she might give. Spencer had befriended Paige; how could she play both sides if her friends relationship really was completely over?

"Actually, I asked her on a date Friday night." Emily admitted as she fought a grin. "She accepted."

The moment of silence was broken as her friends broke out into cheers and instantly began making plans for the date. Emily shook her head until they had grown quiet again.

"Listen I really appreciate you guys helping with the picnic but I'm going to take it from here." She gazed at each of her friends. Hanna look disappointed at not being able to plan another date, Aria looked understanding while Spencer seemed both proud and relieved. "I have to win Paige back on my own."

"Damn straight, you do." Spencer smiled. "However, I still plan on stealing your girlfriend for our morning runs."

Emily smiled, grateful that her friends supported her and her relationship with Paige. "As long as you don't steal her for any other reason."

Spencer chuckled and nodded her head. "Trust me, she's only got eyes for you."

 

_“The question remains.” Paige pursed her lips in confusion. "Will you let me try to remind you why you love me?"_

_Paige felt her cheeks burn as she glanced down again; the single daisy still lay in her lap. She could hear the longing and hope in Emily's voice, it made her heart race as her head screamed at her to kiss the woman in front of her. However, her heart still hurt from everything Alison related._

_"I know why I love you," Paige spoke softly._

_"Then let me show you how much I love you."_

_The swimmer looked up slightly as she felt a familiar warmth against the back of her hand. Emily didn't look to be aware of her own action. Before Paige could even completely register the remaining electricity Emily's touch created, the hand was gone._

"You wouldn't know what she has in mind, do you?"

Spencer shook her head as they continued their pace through the park. It was early evening and the streetlights were slowly coming to life as the pair made their way back toward their vehicles. 

"She won't say, only that she needs to do it on her own."

"Do what?" Paige asked as they simultaneously broke their pace at a large oak tree near the playground.

"Plan the date," Spencer shrugged, smirking softly. "Grovel at your feet, beg for another chance... I don't know really."

Paige looked up at Spencer in alarm before noticing the grin on her friend's face. With a matching grin, and a red face, Paige playfully shoved Spencer's shoulder.

Laughing, Spencer continued. "She wants to show you how much she loves you, how important you are. I don't think having your friends help has the same effect as it would if you do it on your own."

Paige continued walking as she focused on a street lamp a few yards in front of them. "I really wouldn't know. Friends have been few and far between."

"Oh come on, that's not true." Spencer swatted at her arm.

"It is," Paige defended. "Even you didn't like me when we first met."

Spencer knew it was a fact. Their time together on the field hockey team hadn't been the most pleasant. Of course that had been before she'd dropped hockey in order to focus on swimming; before she came out. "Okay in my defense, you were a bit of a nightmare back then. You know, before you let anyone see the real you."

Paige scoffed lightly, laying her interlocked fingers atop her head and inhaling deep. "A nightmare; really? Don't play so nice, Spence. I was a bitch and I admit it."

Spencer had nothing to say in regards to her newest friend's admission. Glancing at the swimmer as they stopped by the swing set to stretch their legs, Spencer noticed that Paige seemed to be drawing back inside herself once more. "What changed?”

The brunette released her ankle, allowing her foot to return to the ground after stretching her hamstring. “Emily came out.” She stated simply. “I know that Ben gave her a rough time at first but no one really seemed to care.”

Without hesitation Spencer looped her arm through Paige's as they started for their vehicles once more. "Emily had a harder time than you realize."

The swimmer rested her palm against her stomach as the pair walked. "The other girls and I, people at school, didn't really care about her coming out," Spencer continued. "Even her dad wasn't to bad; Mrs Fields on the other hand..."

This caught Paige by surprise. As long as she's known Emily's parents they'd been so accepting. Mrs Fields always greeted her with a warm smile and offering a plethora of snacks. "Her mom? Really? She's always been so loving."

Spencer smiled, "Thank your dad for that."

 

Tuesday and Wednesday went by as normal. Emily still hadn't given any hints as to what she might be planning for a date. Despite Hanna hounding her and the nervous energy that emanated off of Paige during Econ and swim practice, she had kept quite tight lipped about her next move.

"No, Hanna." Emily sighed as she entered her room, depositing her bag on the bed. "Because it's insane, that's why. No! Look, I've got to go; I'll see you tomorrow."

Tossing her phone alongside her bag, Emily groaned audibly at her friend's tenacity. She shook her head at the audacious suggestion that Hanna had made as she peeled herself out of the pale blue jacket. 

The day had been long; a prolonged swim practice had caused her to be late for her last day at the Brew. Taking over for the coach half-way thru practice, many of the girls felt they could slack off and refused to respond to Paige's pep talks. Emily had been forced to show them her new power as coach: ten extra laps and she'd lost track of how many false starts she'd put the team through before releasing them 45-minutes late.

"Honey?"

Em turned, her swim jacket still in her hands, to find her mother standing at the door. 

"How was your last day?"

Emily sighed heavily before turning to drop her jacket over the back of her desk chair. "Before or after I was half-an-hour late?" She grinned softly at the confusion that crossed Pam's face. "Some of the girls seemed to think I would be a pushover as a student coach."

"Did you eat?"

Em bit her lip as she looked away from her mother. "I have so much homework- two chapters of Wuthering Heights, a study guide for Bio, ten problems in Calc and a journal entry in Econ. I'll be up until midnight."

Pam walked into the room and took both of her daughter's hands. Emily began to protest until Pam deposited her on the edge of the bed, pulled the girl's bag closer and kissed her on the top of the head. "I'll bring you a plate."

Two hours later, Emily pulled her Econ binder toward her as she glanced at her phone. It was almost eleven o'clock; Spencer had texted nearly ten minutes ago to bid her a goodnight and ask about coffee in the morning. She scoffed in laughter as she tossed her phone above the binder. Coffee was basically a good group for them.

_Boys (Emily): For no specific reason, you have planned a romantic, spontaneous date for your wife. What have you planned? What was the budget for this date (don't forget to add it into your budget)._

Em had been thinking of this assignment since she'd watched Paige write it down. Her mind instantly went to using the idea she'd been working on for an actual date but didn't want to ruin the surprise if Ms. Sawyer gave the binder to Paige before they went on the date. 

She picked up her pen and began to write.

_Romance isn't about how much money you spend on a date; it's more about the person and how much you love each other. Choosing to show that person how much you mean to them by way of a surprise date is something both difficult and exciting._  
When I thought about surprising Paige I knew I wanted to do something special we haven't done before. I called one of my best friends and asked to borrow his truck for the night, I even promised to return it with a full tank of gas. I packed away a few spare blankets from the linen closet along with a few pillows and the duvet from a guest bedroom.   
I threw all of this into a trash bag in an attempt to thwart any questions from Paige before loading it into the truck bed. Under the trash bag I stashed my friend's lunchbox with a sealed bowl of berries, a bowl of whipped cream and a bottle of wine.  
The plan is to go about our evening as usual: cook dinner, eat and then clean up. Only after, would I ask Paige to go for a drive with me. I'd take her out near the Kissing Rock, unpack the blankets into the bed of the truck, roll down the windows and listen to music under the stars with our simple desert. Just the two of us.  
Date cost- $30 (a full tank of gas) 

Emily smiled softly as she finished her journal entry and closed the binder. Moving off her bed she stretched her sore muscles, hearing soft cracks as she leaned backwards. The clock on her bedside read 11:32pm. 

"Ohmigosh," Emily groaned, grabbing the plate and empty glass from the floor before heading out of her room.

She would have to skip the coffee stop in the morning. After the long day and long night of homework, Em was to exhausted to shower. 

It was a quarter to midnight when Emily fell into her bed. She smiled softly as an image of her and Paige shared strawberries in the back of Toby's truck as the stars shone above them.

 

Paige lay in the darkness of her bedroom. She'd been tossing and turning for two hours, her mind refused to shut down and let her body recharge. Emily had definitely shown them that she would hold them responsible for their training and practice schedules. Her shoulders and thighs were both aching constantly. 

However, it wasn't her body that was keeping her awake. The irony of the journal entry she'd copied down had weighed on her subconscious all night. Emily was preparing a simulated date for class as well as planning something for real. 

It had been three days since Spencer told her that Emily wanted to plan their date alone. Spencer still knew nothing and Emily hadn't really spoke to her outside of class and practice all week. As much as she fought it, Paige was slowly going insane.

Her head and heart were still at war with one another. They both agreed that Paige loved Emily but the two sides of her emotions couldn't agree on what to do. Her heart wanted to forget everything and go over to Emily's right that moment, to forgive her and go back to being girlfriends. Of course her head kept reminding her of everything and how hurt she was. 

Paige groaned as she rolled over once more, pulling the blanket over her head. It did nothing to erase Emily's bright eyes, gorgeous face and plump, kissable lips from her mind's eye.

_Let me show you how much I love you._

Paige groaned loudly once more as she returned to her back and pushed the blanket from over her face. It seemed the only thing her mind could agree on was waiting to see how Emily planned to win her back.


	7. Chapter 7

Friday had come at last. Paige had finally fallen asleep sometime after two in the morning, making it damn near impossible for her to get up at five-thirty for her morning jog. As she walked through the doors of Rosewood High, she’d already decided on foregoing her afternoon workout as well for a nap before the date she had with Emily. 

Her date with Emily. Already her stomach was churning in both anticipation and nervousness. She still had no clue as to what the brunette had planned. Spencer, apparently, had been kept in the dark and was unable to calm her nervousness as they spoke on the telephone that morning.

Most of their dates had been mutually planned so not knowing what Emily had planned was sending her imagination in overdrive. What could the girl possibly be planning in an attempt to get Paige’s trust back?

The morning was going remarkably slow. Second period had brought a pop quiz that she'd had trouble focusing on with her limited hours of sleep. Paige had hastily wrote a single word in the bottom corner of her paper before exchanging quizzes with Aria. It seemed grading the papers took twice as long as taking the quiz; Paige hadn't even realized she was twisting the cap of her pen until Aria tapped on her shoulder.

Paige pulled her paper back onto her desk, looking over the eighty-eight she’d scored, and went straight to the bottom corner. Next to Emily's name was three letters: IDK.

She groaned audibly, catching the attention of her teacher. Paige blushed as she subtly erased the short conversation before passing her paper, along with Aria’s, to the boy in front of her. She felt her nervousness turn to frustration as the bell rang to end second period. 

The swimmer hoisted her bag over her shoulder as she turned to make her way toward the rear doorway of the classroom. Aria caught her eye, frowning slightly. “Sorry, Paige; she refused to tell any of us what she has planned.”

Paige nodded, “She knows that Spencer and I have been jogging at night. She also knows I’m not very good with surprises, especially after the whole kidnapped fiasco.” 

Aria coughed lightly; Emily didn’t talk much about the lighthouse and she’d made them all promise never to ask Paige about what had happened while Lyndon had her. “I’m pretty sure she’s not going to kidnap you; at least, not in the way that she wants to hurt you.”

“This not knowing is just driving me crazy,” Paige groaned as the pair made their way into the hall. “The date is suppose to be tonight and I don’t even know, like, if I should dress casual or--”

“Besides school dances, how often have you dressed up for a date with Emily?” Aria smirked. 

Paige paused, “Ok, point taken but it still doesn’t calm my nerves.”

Aria glanced to up to her left. The few times they’d shared in company together, Paige had been anything but nervous; outside the lighthouse, she’d looked almost defeated as she spoke with the cops but there’d still been that ounce of protectiveness that had allowed Emily to come to Hanna’s side. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you nervous.” Paige chuckled lightly, lowering her head to watch her feet as they walked. “Besides, you don’t have anything to be nervous about. Emily loves you; I mean, the amount of times she brought up your name this past week- I see now how sickenly cute and annoying it is. I’ve seriously toned down talking about Ezra because of you.”

Paige looked up at her in confusion. “Um… you’re welcome?”

Aria laughed, “I just mean that I understand you’re nervous about tonight but I seriously doubt that Emily would do anything short of romantic when it comes to you. Will you promise to tell me about it on Monday?”

Paige stopped outside of her Econ classroom, surprised that Aria wanted to hear about the date in three days from her instead of tomorrow from Emily. “Me? I mean, wouldn’t you find out from Em--”

“No, I want to hear about it from you.” Aria smiled. “I’ll avoid Em and Hanna if I have to.”

Paige laughed, “Ok, sure. I’ll see you Monday.”

Emily was already at their table with the binder sitting in the middle of the table when Paige put her bag down and smiled lightly at her. “Hey.”

The young coach looked up and smiled brightly, “Hey.”

After getting almost no sleep and nearly interrogating both Spencer and Aria, now that she was face to face with Emily, Paige had nothing to say. With a single word, Emily had seemed to eradicate every one of her fears regarding their date. 

“So, tonight-” Paige slowly began after a long pause.

Before another word could be spoken the bell rang. Almost instantly, Ms. Sawyer launched into her lecture on government spending. Paige had tried to pay attention and quickly lost interest when a debate broke out in the classroom. 

“Paige? You've been very quiet,” Ms. Sawyer said, breaking the swimmer from her thoughts. “Do you have any ideas?”

Paige instantly looked down at the book in front of her. She hadn't heard a word anyone was saying in over twenty minutes. “Um, well…”

“I think that our national debt is too great for recovery. Period.” Emily suddenly spoke up. “It's in the trillions; we've owed money to so many countries from the very creation of the Thirteen Colonies.”

Ms. Sawyer merely smiled at Emily. “The history of our government goes hand-in-hand with our economic lives.”

Paige held her breath as the teacher caught her gaze once more. Ms. Sawyer paused for a moment, looking as though she may call on the swimmer once more for an argument to the class debate, before turning to walk to the front of the room once more. “Alright, you’ll all notice that I didn’t write anything on the board for your project today. Call this one of those proverbial perfect weekends in your simulated marriages. You will exchange your folders with your partners.” 

Emily smiled softly, pushing the binder toward Paige just as the bell rang. The class erupted in noise of students quickly grabbing their bags and getting to their feet. “Miss McCullers?” Ms. Sawyer spoke above the noise. “A moment?”

The student coach was the last out of the classroom door and on her way to lunch. Paige held the binder protectively in her arms, crossed over her chest. She slowly made her way to the front of the classroom.

“I know that you and Emily have broken up-” Ms. Sawyer began.

“You do?” Paige instantly interrupted before lowering her gaze to the floor. 

Ms. Sawyer merely nodded softly. “She came to me at the beginning of this assignment, asking to be paired with another student.” Paige’s gaze found the teacher’s. “Obviously I denied the request. I can, however, see that you two seem to be working it out. I’m not that much older than you are, Paige, and I know the sting of losing your first love.”

Paige once more felt her head and heart start fighting. Had she lost Emily? Did she want to? Could they survive everything that was Alison?

“Now, I don’t know what happened between you two; frankly, it’s none of my business.” Ms. Sawyer told her. “However, when you’re physically in class I do request that you are mentally in class as well.”

Paige could feel her cheeks growing warm. She nodded slightly, her head dipped down. “We are trying to work it out; I’ve just been preoccupied with--” Looking up at her teacher, who held a slight grin on her face. “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again. I’ll be here.”

Ms. Sawyer smiled. “Have a good weekend, Paige.”

 

Paige made her way through the crowd of students making their way toward their next classes. Lunch had been typical; Spencer had found her to try inviting her to their table but she’d declined. She had used the excuse of finishing up her Spanish homework for next period but in reality she’s wanted to read Emily’s journal entry. Of course, that had been nixed as some of the swim team girls had found her and instantly surrounded her in order to complain about the workout Emily had put them through. 

She glared at the binder sitting next to her lunch tray as the warning bell rang, ending lunch. The three girls got to their feet and left the room as Paige picked up her half-eaten lunch. She tucked the binder under her arm, dumped the tray and made her way into the crowded hallway. Since Ms. Sawyer had held her back, Paige hadn’t had time to stop at her locker for her Spanish book before lunch. 

“Hey, Paige, wait up.”

Hanna. The brunette turned to see the blonde coming toward her in the hallway. She smiled in greeting as Emily’s friend joined her stride down the hall. “So I’m guessing you didn’t join us at lunch because you’re nervous about your date tonight.”

Paige briefly glanced at Hanna before ducking her head, “The last time Em and I spent any time together, Ali showed up with her destructive force.” The swimmer shrugged as the realization suddenly hit her. “I guess I’m just nervous.”

Hanna interlocked their arms as they continued down the hall. “I wouldn’t be; the last time she and Em were facing each other- well I’m sure you remember what happened. The whole school talked about it for days.” She smiled. “Ali begged her dad to be homeschooled.”

Paige had never asked why Ali suddenly disappeared from school after that first week. To her, it sounded as if she couldn't take the same treatment she'd always dished out. Silently, Paige stepped up to her locker and began to turn the dial as Hanna perched herself against the wall and started inspecting her cuticles. As she opened her locker, a square piece of paper fell forward. Paige felt her knees buckle as she quickly reacted to catch the folded paper.

“What's that?” Hanna asked from beside her.

Paige glanced toward her companion before opening it and reading the message,

__

“Meet me at 7.  
2029 W Chester Pike  
Love, Em”

“Ooh,” Hanna grinned, looking down at the script. “Emily’s date. What is that address?”

Paige glanced up at the blonde before returning her eye to the paper. “I don't know.” 

She folded the paper back into itself and pushed it into her front pocket as she plucked her Spanish book from her locker, closed the door and then turned back to Hanna. “Ready?” The address nagged at her. It looked familiar but she couldn’t remember where she knew it from. Once again her mind vacated her consciousness as her Spanish teacher began her lecture. She knew that address was familiar.

 

It was a quarter to seven when Paige pulled up outside of the bar. The ghost of a smile had formed on her lips as she realized where Emily had planned to meet her. She hadn’t been to the bar since that night; somewhere, at home, she still had a paper coaster from the place. It had been the furthest place out of Rosewood that she had felt comfortable being seen with Emily. Though now she realized how paranoid she’d been in those early days after surprise kissing Emily in the school parking lot. 

She had asked Emily to the remote bar in order to apologize and somehow it had turned into an impromptu date; one that she still cherished to this day. Paige got out of her car and looked to her left. Ten feet away had been where she’d stood facing Emily while her heart hammered in her chest. The crush that she’d harbored for two years had instantly intensified as Emily kissed her. Paige barely remembered going back inside after Emily had left and grabbed the coaster as a momento. 

Walking inside, Paige found that the place hadn’t changed one bit over the year. A light layer of smoke still filled the air, bottles clinked as patrons drank and some ‘90s country song was playing from the jukebox. She glanced up the the front and aw the blank television monitor, the raised stage and the microphone stands. It was as if time had froze after she’d last left the bar. Now here she was, waiting to meet Emily at the same spot as their first date.

“Can I get you something, sweetheart?” An older woman asked almost as soon as Paige took a seat at a table. 

“Oh, uh,” Paige looked up at the woman. “Just a Sprite please.”

The woman nodded her head and made her way back across to the bar while Paige peeled her jacket from her shoulders. She’d gone by Aria’s suggestion and worn simple jeans and a pale blue sleeveless shirt under a black vest. Laying the jacket next to her on the bench seat, Paige smiled up at the woman who set her drink on the table before making her way to another table.

“Damn,” Paige looked up to see Emily standing next to her. “I wanted to get here first.”

Paige watched as Emily removed her own jacket, instantly noticing how her sleeveless shirt seemed to rise a few inches off of the waistband of her hip hugging jeans. She smiled softly as Emily took a seat across from her, “Come here often?”

The brunette smiled as she looked around the place. “Not in awhile; I actually had a date here once. She even got me to sing karaoke.”

Paige blushed slightly, dropping her chin as she grinned. “She must have been pretty crazy. Making you come all the way out here in the middle of nowhere.”

Emily lifted a single shoulder, “It was pretty hard for her back then.”

“Why bother, then?” Paige looked up. 

Emily looked off to the side as if she was seriously thinking why she’d even pursued the relationship after everything Paige had put her through in those early days of sneaking around. “That was actually one of the best dates I’ve been on. You know how you can be terrified to do something but when you have someone there with you that you trust, that you love, it doesn’t seem so bad?”

Paige swallowed. She knew that feeling. It was her feelings for Emily that had finally given her the strength to come out in the first place. “So you love this girl?” Emily smiled. “What are you doing here with me then?”

Emily reached over and picked up Paige’s Sprite, taking a long drink from it. “I thought maybe you could help me find her again. You look a lot like that girl.” She pushed the drink back across the table and slowly took hold of the swimmer’s hand. “See I completely messed up and I’m trying to find a way for her to trust me again. It scares me to think that she’ll never let me in again.”

Paige felt her throat go dry. She picked up the drink and drew in large gulps, successfully draining the glass. Looking down at where their hands were, Emily’s lying between the table and her palm, she felt heat course through her cheeks as she could feel her hand pulsing along with her rapid heartbeat. “You think she should let you in again?”

Emily nodded, “I know it isn’t much but I’m in love with her. She makes me believe that high school sweethearts can be forever.”

Swallowing hard, her gaze rose from their hands to find chocolate orbs trained on her chestnut ones. It was as if Emily was looking deep into her soul, trying to deliver her words into Paige’s very bones. Her voice came out soft, even to her own ears. “She must be special.”

Emily nodded, lacing her fingers through Paige’s as she held the other girl’s gaze. “You are special, Paige. I’m the idiot and I’ll spend everyday admitting it if that’s what you want.”

 

“Omigod, you got her to sing?” Aria spoke loudly as she and Paige walked into the front halls of Rosewood High. Aria had been waiting next to the bike rack with a coffee in each hand on Monday morning. True to her word, Aria had ignored all texts from Hanna over the weekend and was waiting patiently to hear about the evening the moment Paige turned from locking her bike. 

“No. Well I mean, yeah, I guess, last year,” Paige blushed as they made their way through the hall. “It wasn’t easy either.”

“No, I know.” Aria spoke animatedly. “I’ve tried. Unless she’s wasted, the girl doesn’t sing in front of anyone. Not even with the radio.”

Paige drank down some more of the hot liquid, feeling it warm her from within. It wasn’t often that she drank coffee but with the chill starting to move into Rosewood- she promised herself to spend an extra fifteen minutes on the treadmill during her free period. “Hmm?”

Aria was looking at her expectantly as they stopped at the girl’s locker. “I said, what did you sing?”

Paige grinned to herself. “I Kissed A Girl.” Aria burst out laughing, nearly dropping her coffee. “It wasn’t my idea, ok?” She was laughing along with Aria. 

“Did you like it?” Aria sputtered. 

The swimmer shoved the smaller girl playfully as they were joined by Spencer, Hanna and Emily. Aria grabbed her English text and her phone before closing her locker door, still trying to hide her laughter as she took another long drink of the coffee. 

“What is so funny?” Spencer asked.

“Nothing,” Aria smiled. “Paige was just telling me about her new favorite song.”

Paige could feel the warmth run into her cheeks as Hanna and Spencer looked at her. Emily hugged her books closer to her chest as she fought the blush that was demanding residence on her own face. “Oh? What song?”

Aria nearly choked on her coffee at Hanna’s innocent question. As if on cue, the bell rang signally their need to proceed to class or face embarrassment of being tardy. “Saved by the bell,” Paige mumbled. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Spencer and Hanna broke off from the group on the way to their own classes. It was only after Aria and Emily were alone that she elbowed the brunette in the ribs and spoke. “From Pink to Katy Perry, huh?”

Emily blushed, knocking back into her companion. “Shut up. We rocked both of those songs.”


	8. Chapter 8

It wasn't until her second period English class that Paige remembered the journal entry that Emily had written in their marriage binder. With the teacher lecturing on about the political themes of 1984, Paige pulled the binder out of her bag and opened the page to Emily neat script. 

She ran her hand down the page as she read the entry for a second time. It was as if she could see into Emily's heart as she read. Reading the passage a third time, Paige found herself disappointed that the date wasn't real. She had half expected Emily to recreate their karaoke date straight down to the goodnight kiss; unfortunately the brunette had refrained. 

Paige had spent five minutes just sitting in her car once she returned home trying to figure out why Emily hadn't kissed her. 

A sudden shuffling of her neighbors brought the swimmer back to reality. She glanced up at Aria who had a knowing smile on her face. “Find another book with similar themes and compare to Orwell's general thesis; at least three pages by next Friday.”

Paige looked at her incredulously, closing the binder and grabbing her bag. “Tell me you're joking.”

“It's been three days and you're still seeing fireworks, huh?” Aria joked as they left the classroom.

Paige looked at her in utter confusion. “Aria, we went to a bar in the middle of nowhere; there was no fireworks.”

Aria grabbed Paige's arm and pulled her toward the lockers, out of the main flow of the hallway. “Wait, what do you mean ‘no fireworks?’ You told me that she practically recited poetry to you.” Paige looked around at the passersby who glanced at her innocently. “She recreated your first date; how were there no fireworks?”

“She didn't recreate the whole date,” Paige mumbled softly. Aria, however, heard every word.

“What didn't she do?”

Paige shook her head, “We're gonna be late.”

“Econ is two doors down and it's my free period,” Aria countered. “What part did Emily forget?”

 

Emily sat in the alcove with a large coffee cup in her hand and the table littered with textbooks. After swim practice she’d texted Aria to meet at the Brew so they could hang out while doing homework. Paige, meanwhile, had gone to meet Spencer for their nightly run.

Aria walked through the main door and smiled in greeting to the boy Emily had trained as her replacement before making her way to the alcove. Dropping her bag on the floor between her legs, the tiny brunette barely sat down before quizzing Emily.

“What didn't you do?”

“Um,” Emily looked up into Aria’s demanding gaze. “Excuse me?”

“Friday,” Aria clarified. “Paige said that you recreated your first date except for one thing. What didn't you do?”

Emily felt her cheeks grow warm as she looked down to the Economics book in her lap. Emily had spent the entire time from gathering their jackets until the pair stood next to the swimmer’s Prius trying to decide if she should kiss Paige, just as she'd done that night. It had taken every bit of energy to resist kissing Paige before she climbed into her car.

“Em-” Aria spoke again.

“Last year, as we were leaving the bar,” Emily sank further into the couch. “I kissed her.”

Aria suddenly understood. “And you didn't this time.”

Emily felt an ache in her chest as she glanced back into her textbook. She didn't know if she could explain accurately. It wasn't often that the group spoke of intimate details of their relationships. She could only think of Aria actually stating intimacy in her relationship but she was sure Hanna and Spencer weren't exactly innocent anymore either. Her tryst beside Paige's pool was still only between the two athletes.

“Why?” Aria finally asked following the long pause.

“It's sort of difficult to explain.” Emily said. The silence from her friend enticed her to look up where she was met with Aria’s patient gaze. With a sigh, Emily conceded to exaggerate further. “After all of the Alison stuff, I just don't think I've got the right to kiss her... yet. I'm really trying to earn Paige's trust back and I just don't think I'm there yet.” 

Aria looked sympathetic at her friend’s confession. She completely understood Emily’s reasoning. “Well, my advice? You'd better figure it out faster because you're driving Paige crazy. She thinks that she did something.”

 

Paige was already seated at their table the next day with the marriage binder open when Emily took her seat and smiled. She'd tried texting Paige the night before but she wasn't able to express her feelings without mentioning Ali. Instead, Emily had spent an hour listening to an old voice message left on her phone. It was the message that led her to look at the virtual dorm room Paige had created after being accepted to Stanford.

“Ok, class,” Ms. Sawyer had a habit of beginning the lecture right as the tardy bell rang. “You will see that there is nothing on the board today for your binders. If one person from each couple will come up here and collect an envelope.” Emily and Paige looked at each other; Paige silently motioned for Emily to retrieve the envelope. “You will find inside… a birth announcement.”

“Seriously?” One of the boys from two rows back said as his partner stepped up to the teacher’s desk. “We already have five!”

Emily made her way to the teacher's desk and grabbed an envelope from the center of the line before making her way back to the desk. Paige found her gaze glued to the object in her partner’s hand. Not only were they married in class, now they were parents.

“Are you kidding?” The boy’s rang out again. “Ms. Sawyer, can we trade with someone or something?”

The teacher shook her head, “I put the announcements inside the envelopes and shuffled them. Even I don't know who drew what.”

“It's freaking triplets!” Several students began to giggle and whisper amongst themselves. “Man, I'm never getting married.”

“You can still have kids if you're not married, genius.” The boy’s partner said.

“Alright, alright; settle down.” Ms. Sawyer called. “Open your books to chapter seven.”

Neither Paige nor Emily had a chance to open the envelope to discover their own parental fate as Ms. Sawyer delved quickly into the lesson. The former swimmer barely had time to slip the envelope into their marriage binder before opening her textbook and notebook to begin taking notes.

 

Lunch arrived once more and Emily found herself walking through the cafeteria line behind Paige. Spencer had succeeded in getting the swimmer to join their lunch table so the pair had walked together from their third period class to the lunch room.

“When am I ever going to need to know about market structures?” Paige complained as she picked up a salad.

Emily grinned in response. It wasn't a secret that either girl didn't particularly enjoy the class and were only in Ms. Sawyer’s class due to the required credit. “Maybe we can get Spencer to explain it better; I don't know about you but I was about ten seconds from falling asleep back there.”

“Oh, hey.” Paige said suddenly as they sat next to each other at the group’s usual table. She opened the binder and withdrew the envelope. “Wanna do the honors?”

Emily smiled. She'd forgotten that they now had a hypothetical family. Shaking her head, Emily watched as Paige pulled the flap open and withdrew the birth announcement.

“We proudly announce the birth of our twins.” Paige read aloud, pausing briefly at the last word. “Our baby girl was born on this day at 3:15 am and was quickly followed by a baby boy at 3:28 am. Mom and babies are healthy and resting comfortably with no medical intervention.”

Paige took another moment to look at the card before laying it down on the table between them. Across the top was a cartoon drawing of two babies in gender-specific clothing, smiles on their faces and arms held high above them in celebration.

“Twins?” Emily spoke in disbelief. “We have twins?”

“Apparently so.” Paige confirmed. “But hey, at least we don't have eight, like Brent and Tiana.”

Emily grinned as she picked up the envelope, tucking the announcement under the flap and put it back inside the binder pocket. “So I guess we need to figure up the new savings amount to deduct the costs of nursery items.”

Paige nodded, “It also takes an extra $100 from our monthly savings.”

Emily gazed up at her, grinning softly. “A hundred dollars? I guess we’ll just have more dates at home.”

 

Emily trudged through the front door of her house. Her homework load was enormous, once more, and she had a test on Friday over the last two chapters they’d covered in Econ. Practice had become increasingly difficult for Emily with Paige’s return to afternoon practice- today she’d been caught by Coach Fulton as she watched the brunette walk along the poolside to take her spot on the blocks. 

All she wanted to do was take a short nap before dinner and then concentrate on her homework while dodging Hanna’s interrogation as to the next step in getting her girlfriend back. Out of the corner of her eye, however, Emily noticed her mother jump to her feet in the living room and silently looking at her. 

“Mom?” Emily felt her muscles freeze as she noticed her mother’s hands fidgeting inside each other. “Dad?”

Pam immediately waved her off, “Dad’s fine.” This was the thing she truly hated about the military; every concerned face instantly brought fear for her father’s life. “You got a letter.”

Emily slowly made her way into the living room as Pam Fields knelt slightly to pick up the envelope from the table in front of her. The older woman enticed her daughter forward, Emily’s gaze concentrated solely on the letter, before smiling gently as she released her hold. 

“Stanford?” Emily spoke softly, reading the return address. “But I can’t compete anymore.”

Pam lowered herself onto the couch once more. “I thought you applied outright, not as an athlete.” 

“I did.”

“Well, your grades are pretty strong. You’re the student coach, you held a job, your SATs were pretty good.” Pam praised. “What did you write about for your admissions essay?”

Emily bit her tongue when she realized that her mother failed to mention she’d done all of that while being harassed by a faceless bully. She shrugged a single shoulder, “Overcoming adversity. Using swimming to ground myself after coming out and was met with resistance.”

Pam lowered her own head briefly, clearing her throat. Emily knew that her mother still felt guilty for her behavior after learning of her daughter’s sexual preference. She smiled proudly as she looked back up at her only daughter, “You must have won them over with your courage.” 

She continued to simply stare at the envelope. Her name was clearly printed on the front but it suddenly looked as if it was some foreign language. She hadn’t told anyone, other than her parents, that she was going to apply to Stanford. Emily had sent in the application only days after realizing Alison’s motives, when Paige had asked for time to recover from witnessing her kissing Alison. 

“You didn’t tell Paige, did you?” Pam voice interrupted her thoughts. 

Emily shook her head slightly. “I didn’t want to. I mean, if I don’t get in and she forgives me…” She paused before voicing her fear. “If I do get in and she doesn’t forgive me…”

Pam reached out her hand, laying it on her daughter’s wrist to gain her attention. “You know that your dad and I love Paige. We’ve never seen you happier than when she’s around; if I could personally drag her over here and make her forgive you, I would. But,” Her mother spoke as a grin spread across Emily’s lips. “She’d be crazy not to forgive you. Relationships are hard and if you really want it to work, it can’t be give or take. You both have to put in the work to make that relationship.” 

Emily nodded. “I just hope that I’m doing enough.”

 

“Wow.”

Paige looked over at the brunette laying across her bed, the marriage binder open in front of her. She made a noncommittal hum as she crossed back to her closet, hanging up the last of the laundry she'd found on her bed.

“Emily wrote this?” Spencer asked, turning another page.

“Well it wasn't me, Spence.”

“Cute,” Spencer grinned, looking up at her. “I just didn't know that Emily was such a romantic.”

Paige blushed, dropping her gaze to the floor.

“Ok, now I see what Emily means.” Paige looked up in confusion. “Don't take this the wrong way but when you blush and drop your head, it is pretty cute.”

Once more, the swimmer blushed. “Emily said that?”

Spencer playfully groans, rolling her eyes. “Only all the time.”

Paige turned away from her friend, picking up her backpack from the floor. She had asked Spencer over to help her prepare for her Trig midterm. Despite the scholarship that had already been offered, she still needed to get at least a B on the test to finish the swimming season. 

Just as she turned back toward the bed, her textbook and spiral notebook in hand, the door of her bedroom opened. Beth’s smile faltered as she noticed the other girl laying on her stomach. “Paige Serena, you know the rules.”

Paige looked over to Spencer, who had pushed herself up enough to sit in her heels. “Oh, no. Mom, this is Spencer.”

“Oh,” Beth's demeanor changed slightly. “You're Emily's friend, right?”

“And Paige's,” Spencer clarified, getting off the bed but not sure what she should do next. “Paige and I run together after school.”

“Oh,” Beth smiled, realizing her mistake. “Paige told me about the picnic y… Wait, you were the one with Paige when she saw Emily kiss-”

The elder McCullers woman stopped as she saw her daughter's attention drop to her fingernails. Spencer also noticed the change in her friend and nodded quickly, “Yes ma'am.”

“You protected her from Alison.” Beth stated rather than questioned. Spencer looked away from Mrs. McCullers to Paige. Her cheeks were tinted slightly as she glanced toward Spencer.

“Before you, my mom was the only one I could talk to.” 

Beth smiled, moving to her daughter and kissed her forehead. “You, dear, are welcome anytime.” She spoke to Spencer. “However, your father's rules still apply: the door stays open.”

“Yes ma'am,” Paige mumbled as Spencer nodded her head silently.

“I'll bring you girls a snack.” She turned to Spencer. “Anything to drink, honey?”

“No, thank you, Mrs. McCullers.”

The two teenagers watched as the older woman retreated from the room. Paige's embarrassment was evident as she turned back toward her bed, Spencer having already returned to laying on her stomach and turning another page in the marriage binder.

“Sorry, my mom is…”

“Protective,” Spencer supplied. “It's fine, I get it. I'm protective too.”

Silence fell over the two girls again as Paige found one of the chapters she would be tested on and opened her notebook to work the math problems she hadn't been assigned before. 

“What is this?” Spencer asked as she pulled the birth announcement out of the divider pocket. “Ohmigod, you guys had twins?!”

“Shh,” Paige smacked her friend's hand. “It was today's event. Everyone has at least one child now.”

Spencer smiled, rolling to her side and leaned her head against her hand. “What are their names?”

Paige looked down at her. “Ms. Sawyer didn't say anything about naming them.”

“Well, I mean, are you really just gonna call them ‘baby girl’ or ‘son?’ I think my partner and I ended that project with three kids: Breena, Elliott and Elijah.”

Paige looked at the birth announcement. She hadn't asked Emily if they should name their imaginary children. “I wouldn't know what to name a baby.”

“Maybe you should ask Em for coffee and brainstorm names for your little swimmers.” Spencer grinned. “Which of you had these babies anyway?”

“Definitely Em,” Paige said vaguely.

Spencer cocked her head to the side, “Why do you say that?”

Paige shrugged a single shoulder, tucking the announcement back into the pocket and pulling the binder away from her friend. “So they'd look like Em.”

“Aww,” Spencer smiled, teasingly. “Now who's the romantic?”

The girl didn't even attempt to dodge the pillow that smacked her in the face as she chuckled softly.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we begin, fair warning, I know nothing about High School Swimming. In fact, I didn’t even know that my school had a swim team until a few classmates spoke about being on the team. So I don’t know about the season schedules; so please, if you are knowledgeable and I’m screwing up everything, I apologize. Because the show had no sense of time at all, I’m writing this as if it is the latter half of the first semester (November-ish).

“Did Paige tell you she was going to California this weekend?” Spencer asked as she set two cups of coffee on the island counter before turning to make another cup.

Emily looked over at her companion. Toby sat on the stool next to her, reaching for the container of milk. “Um,” Toby poured a bit into Emily's cup before his own, catching her gaze as she paused. “No. Why is she going to-”

“College tour,” Toby supplied, earning a glare from his girlfriend. He muttered an apology to his best friend as she looked at him in utter confusion. “I joined them on their run last night.”

“Anyway,” Spencer said, leaning against the counter and taking a sip of her black coffee. “She's leaving Friday morning; ten o'clock out of Philadelphia.”

Emily looked down into her coffee, wondering why Paige hadn't mentioned anything during class or practice the day before. It was already Wednesday afternoon. The brunette lifted the cup to her lips and took a large drink before sputtering some of the liquid down her chin. “Oh God, Toby, pass the sugar.”

Toby chuckled as he pushed the sugar container toward his friend as Spencer scowled and took a drink of her own coffee. “I'm curious why Paige didn't say anything.” Toby spoke as Emily spooned a third heap of sugar into her coffee. 

“Obviously, Paige didn't want to hurt Em’s feelings.” Spencer said. “I mean, you were trying to get that last spot on the Stanford team before you messed up your shoulder, right?”

“You mean A messed up my shoulder,” Emily grumbled. 

“My point is,” Spencer continued. “She probably doesn't want to upset you because you still haven't heard about any of your applications.”

“How many schools did you apply to?” Toby questioned, hoping that his first friend might actually stay close to home. 

“Um, I applied at Berkeley City, UC Berkeley and CCSF.” 

“Those are all in California,” Toby said as he tried to hide his disappointment. 

Spencer turned her attention to her boyfriend. “Are you surprised? Paige is going to college in California; ergo, Emily wants to go to California.” 

Emily raised her coffee cup to her lips as she took another large drink, tuning out the couple. If Paige was leaving on Friday morning that mean she only had a day before a very long, lonely weekend. She had planned to ask Paige to dinner on Saturday; now it seemed she needed to change her plan. 

“I've got to go,” Emily said suddenly, leaning over and kissing Toby’s cheek. “See you guys later.”

The couple watched as their friend made her way out the side door and disappeared. He looked toward his girlfriend, smiling softly. “I think we lost her attention after you mentioned Paige.”

Spencer shrugged her shoulder, taking a drink of her coffee. She set down the cup and walked around the island, wrapping her arms around his neck. “She's in love.”

Toby smiled, placing own hands atop his girlfriend’s hips. “I know the feeling.”

Spencer grinned, pulling him closer until their lips met. Emily had been instrumental in guiding her toward Toby, she hoped to repay the brunette by helping her with Paige.

 

Emily watched as the last of the girls pulled themselves out of the pool. There was two weeks until the next big swim meet and Sydney, along with a few other freshman, were quickly becoming Lady Sharks ready. “Good job, guys.”

As usual, she noticed a lone figure still in the pool working hard on her flip turns. Emily smiled softly; Paige was putting in extra laps today, most likely cause she’d missed practice the next day and probably the weekend practices she always did on her own.

“Come on, Paige.” Emily called suddenly. “Finish hard.”

There was a microscopic hesitation that anyone else would have easily missed. However, Emily knew the timing and rhythm of Paige's strokes. The brunette waited silently as she watched Paige finish the lap and then break the surface to look up at her. “Sorry.”

Paige shook her head slightly, pulling her goggles and swim cap off in one motion before going to hoist herself out of the pool. She turned to find Emily taking a small step toward her as she help a towel opened wide. The swimmer met Emily halfway, turning and accepting the dry, warmth around her shoulders. 

“I thought everyone had left,” Paige said, lowering her gaze.

Emily watched as the Paige clutched the towel around her shoulders and her tongue swipe across her lip as she lifted her head and gazed toward the flat surface of chlorine water to her left. 

The brunette took a step back, turned and silently bade Paige toward the locker room. “You did really well today; don't tell anyone but I'm pretty sure that Coach is gonna put you at anchor for the district meet.”

“God,” Paige groaned softly. “Don't tell my dad. I got a full scholarship and it's still not enough.”

“He just wants to make sure you have every opportunity available.”

“Yea, I know.” Paige said as the pair walked into the locker room. Half the team had already exited the showers and where dressing for their journey home. “He's better than last year, it just seems like he won't be happy until every swim program in the country is vying for me.”

“What matters is what you want, Paige.” Emily stated as they stopped outside the shower alcove. “He'll understand that; besides, you can't get much better than a full ride.”

Paige nodded her head slightly, lowering her gaze once more before clutching her eyes shut, shaking her head slowly. “I'm sorry, we shouldn't be talking about college.”

Emily lifted a shoulder. Her hands, which lain inside the pockets of her Coach’s jacket, flared out slightly. “It's alright; I might not be able to compete anymore but Ms. Sawyer’s assignment got me looking into sports therapy programs.”

Paige instantly smiled, bouncing on her toes. “That's great; have you heard from anyone yet?”

Emily’s mind instantly flew to the Stanford letter she'd received, the one she stuffed into the deepest part of her desk drawer. Her own soft smile faltered slightly and she quickly changed the subject.

“I should probably go and update everyone's times for today.” Emily stated. “Can I text you later?”

Paige merely nodded as she watched the other girl take a few steps backward before turning and ducking into the Coach’s office.

 

The athlete returned home after washing the chlorine from her hair and pulling on the jeans, grey t-shirt and blue Sharks hoodie. She'd called out to her parents only to find a note on the kitchen counter that they'd gone on a spontaneous date and would return by eleven o'clock. 

Paige rolled her eyes, opened the fridge for a bottle of water and stuck an apple between her teeth. Once upstairs, the brunette emptied out her swim team duffle and started to pack for her three day trip.

Across town, Emily stood at the barn door behind Spencer's large house. She shifted from one foot to the other as she checked her watch. Time was slowly ticking away as she waited for her friend.

After she'd left Toby and Spencer the day before, she'd immediately drove to Paige's house. It was a risk to show up while she knew the swimmer wasn't otherwise distracted. Fortunately Paige had been just beginning her evening workout in the family's backyard pool.

“Sorry, for as high-and-mighty as she is, Melissa has no sense to put the DVDs is any kind of order.” Spencer said as she returned outside.

“It's alright; her parents are giving us until eleven.” 

Spencer grinned as she held out the thin, plastic box. “And you're recreating another date.”

“Well, it was an almost date.” Emily explained, thinking of the text she'd received from Paige after pushing away from Nate and the colossal mistake of kissing him. “It was a few days before the lighthouse.”

Spencer needed no other explanation. In one night she'd almost lost Emily and Paige. “Are you sure about that movie, though?”

Emily grinned, lifting the case. “It's Paige's favorite.”

“My Girl?” Spencer looked at her friend incredulously. “Seriously?”

Emily grinned, “I’ve gotta go. Chinese just isn't the same when it's cold.”

 

Paige completed her packing, dropping her boarding pass on the top before zipping her duffle closed. Glancing at the clock as she felt a faint gurgle in her stomach, she found that it was already after six. Despite having done extra laps during practice, Paige thought about putting in at least half-an-hour in the pool to really work up her appetite for dinner. Certainly there was leftovers from last night that she could heat up.

Just as she reached for her suit to begin changing, the doorbell rang. For a moment she thought about ignoring it but if she was considering going into the unprotected backyard after dark, she could answer the front door. Tossing the suit back onto her desk chair, Paige made her way downstairs.

Emily stood smiling as Paige opened the door, lifting the bag slightly. “Chinese? Movie?”

Paige glanced down at the paperbag, instantly smelling the deliciousness.She glance back into the house for a moment. It wouldn’t be the first time that the girl had been to her house while her parents were away but something about the moment seemed foreign.

“Wait, I know what this is.” Paige finally said. “That night I was suppose to come over with dinner-”

Emily blushed softly, lowering the bag in front of her. “You texted saying that you weren’t feeling well.”

Paige’s journal entry flashed into her mind just then. Not only had the brunette witnessed her kissing Alison but she'd seen the kiss with Nate as well. She lowered her gaze, fighting back the desire to smack herself for causing such pain in the one person that loved her unconditionally. 

“Can I make it up to you? The date?” Paige chastised herself for making Emily feel guilty all over again about the event. “I got Lo Mein and My Girl.”

“Split the Cashew Chicken with me and you’ve got a deal,” Paige smiled, holding out her hand. 

A smile slowly crept upon Emily’s face as she looked at the outstretched hand briefly before threading her own fingers between Paige’s and crossing the threshold into the house. Without a word, Paige led the brunette upstairs and down the hall to her bedroom. Emily hadn’t been in the room since the night she stayed over and fell asleep watching some old black and white film on television. The room was calm and inviting as the girls entered, leaving the door open despite her parents’ absence. 

“Oh,” Paige quickly dropped Emily’s hand and reached for the duffle on her bed. “Um, I was just-”

“Packing for your college visit.” 

Paige looked up suddenly as she’d lowered the duffle to the floor. “Spencer,” she grumbled. “I would have told you but…”

Emily shook her head, setting the bag on the bedspread. “It’s ok, I understand. That’s actually the reason I wanted to surprise you tonight.”

The statement grabbed Paige’s attention. Emily had planned to come over that night? Planned to recreate a failed date. The idea made her heart beat faster almost instantly and the familiar twinge of butterflies in her stomach.

“I asked your parents,” Emily smiled brightly. “On the sole promise that I wouldn’t keep you up all night, they decided to take the night for a date of their own… Doodle.”

Paige groaned softly, scrunching up her nose and leaning her head back. The nickname had been cute when she was five but her parents refused to completely do away with the term of endearment. “Oh god, she told you?”

Emily chuckled softly. Paige’s display cause her stomach to flutter and her chest seemed to expand. “It’s cute. Maybe I-”

“No,” Paige interrupted. “No.”

 

The movie’s main menu had cycled through the soundtrack for a third time but neither noticed. In fact, their attentions had been refocused following the soft sniffle emanated from Paige's lips following Vada’s outburst during Thomas J’s funeral. The only sounds that seem to be registering was the heavy breathing and pounding of their as they explored each other's mouths.

Shifting, Emily hovered over Paige as their tongues fought for dominance. She hadn’t planned to abuse the empty house when she’d shown up on the girl’s doorstep; seeing the brunette attempting to subtly wipe a stray tear from her cheek as Vada cried on the television had been too much. It had started with a gentle brush of her fingertips across Paige’s jaw, to swipe another tear from its journey, before dropping her hand to the swimmer’s neck and pulling her slowly into a kiss. 

Paige’s hand left her hip to lay across Emily’s shoulders, holding her close as they completely lost themselves in the kiss. As the need for oxygen became too great, Emily kissed Paige’s jaw before slowly moving south. 

The soft, sharp exhale from the girl below her urged Emily further. She held herself on one elbow, continuing her assault on Paige’s neck, as her other hand began to loosen the buttons of Paige’s flannel. Dragging her tongue over an area just below Paige’s pulse point, she was urged on as the girl’s arm slowly slid from her shoulder, down her bicep. 

Emily removed the last button and slid her hand around Paige's waist, opening the shirt wider. Another throaty sigh escaped Paige's lips, grabbing Emily's attention. The brunette felt her heart speed up slightly as she pulled away from the girl's neck and returned to kiss her swollen lips.

“I love you,” Emily whispered softly. 

Without waiting for a response, Emily peppered featherlight kisses down Paige's throat to her neck. The muscles in her abdomen flexed as Emily’s fingertips moved upwards from her waist. As the temperature in the room began to climb Emily kissed lower, biting gently on a collarbone that seemed to protrude as Paige inhaled deeply.

“Emily,” Paige moaned softly, causing the fire inside Emily to flare exponentially. The tips of her fingers connected with the hem of the swimmer’s bra cup as she pressed a kiss to the soft, exposed flesh just above the cup. “Emily, honey.”

Her eyes snapped open in an instant and she quickly sat up. The room was mostly dark, aside from the main menu of the movie that was still cycling through its musical theme. Her throat was dry and she could still feel a tingling between her legs as she looked around. 

Beth McCullers stood to her right, both hands up in a surrender pose. The motherly woman was either making sure that Emily didn't tumble from the bed as she jerked awake or was preparing to defend herself from an assault of flailing limbs. She smiled softly and whispered, glancing at her still sleeping daughter. “Honey, your mother called to see if you were still here. It's almost eleven.”

She felt her stomach drop rapidly. Not from being late home or even having fallen asleep next to Paige in the girl's bed; heat flooded her cheeks as she realized what she'd been dreaming about and how, despite Paige's mother waking her up, the sensations between her legs hadn't ceased one ounce. Would Mrs. McCullers be so gentle if she knew that Emily had been dreaming of-- 

“I've got to go,” Emily said, jumping from the bed and frantically searching for her shoes. “I, uh, I didn't mean to… Thank you. For tonight. I…”

“It's fine, sweetie.” Beth McCullers continued in a soft voice. “Was she surprised? Did you have fun?”

“Yea, uh-” Emily finally found her shoes under the edge of the dresser. “She cried when Thomas J died.” Beth nodded, smiling. “And again during the funeral scene.”

“That's my doodle; tries to act tough but she's still a girl.”

Emily smiled at the nickname, looking up at the woman again. “Well, goodnight Mrs. McCullers and sorry, again, for falling asleep.”

Beth shook the apology off as she hit the power button on the television. “Drive safely, sweetie.”

It wasn't until she'd made it to her car, sending her mother a quick text, that she felt the fading ache in her lower abdomen and buried her face in her palms. Emily scolded herself, mentally; if she didn't feel she'd earned a kiss yet, she definitely hadn't earned sex yet. 

Inhaling deep and slow, Emily looked up at the darkened window of Paige's room before releasing her calming breath. The night had been perfect until she was overthrown with embarrassment from being woken by her girlfriend's mother; woken from a very vivid sex dream.

 

Friday had been the longest day ever. Emily spent the entire hour of third period attempting to pay attention to Ms. Sawyer; Spencer immediately noticed the vacant look in her friend's eyes during lunch and decided to distract the girl by inviting them all over for a night in the barn.

By seven o'clock the four girls were falling into seats scattered around the living area. Spencer and Aria took resistance on the couch as Aria opened up the pizza box.

“Geez, Hanna.” Emily cried, coughing slightly. “What did you put in this?”

“Coke,” She said defensively. “But mostly vodka.”

Spencer picked up a pillow and tossed it at the blonde. The pillow knocked against the side of her head just as she was taking a drink from her own cup; Hanna pulled the cup away from her lips quickly causing a few drops to dribble down her chin.

“Tonight is about distracting Em, not to get her stumbling drunk.”

“But,” Hanna said, whining her chin. “It was stumbling drunk Emily that got Paige in the first place.”

Hanna quickly ducked to avoid another flying pillow while Aria coughed to keep from choking on the piece of pizza in her mouth. Emily blushed slightly as she reminded them she'd been drugged.

Half an hour later, each girl was feeling the effects of the alcohol after deciding to play Never Have I Ever. Each girl had already had to drink at least twice. 

“Ok, I have never…” Aria started, twisting the words slightly. “Received a college acceptance.”

Emily paused for a moment, watching as Spencer immediately took a drink. Hanna followed as she slowly lifted the cup to her lips. Aria’s face fell slightly before quickly attempting to recover. “Really? Guys, that's great.”

“Where did you get in, Han?” Spencer asked, remembering that she'd aced her SAT.

“FIT in New York.” Hanna smiled. 

Spencer shook her head slightly as she waited for Hanna to continue. “You only applied at one school? What if you hadn't gotten in?”

Hanna shrugged before looking toward Aria, “You haven't heard anything yet? Where did you apply?”

“A few places,” She said, looking down into her cup. “Honestly, I'll go anywhere that is outside the state.”

“Em?” Spence looked at the dark haired girl for a moment. “Where did you get accepted?”

She paused for a moment, feeling the effects of the alcohol as she turned to face her friend. Hanna and Aria were also giving her their undivided attention. “Well, what about you?”

“Georgetown,” Spencer said instantly. “You?”

Emily sighed, she had only told her mother where she was applying- before telling Spencer and Toby just days before. “Uh, UC Berkeley.”

“Seriously?” Hanna smiled excitedly. “How far is that from Stanford?”

Emily blushed softly, silently reprimanding herself after thinking she could have got away with not telling the girls how close she'd be to Paige. “An hour.”

“That's not bad,” Aria spoke up, taking another drink from her cup.

“My turn!” Hanna wiggled in her seat, think hard with a glint in her eye. “Never have I ever… you know,” She smiled. “At home.”

“Um…” Emily said quizzically.

Aria shook her head, a soft smile on her face. “She means-”

Spencer was already taking a drink when Emily spoke again, “Mine or Paige's?” 

Hanna grinned, “Either.”

Emily raised her own drink, not quite making it to her lips before pausing. “Does her pool count?”

“O.M.G! Yes!” Hanna shrieked as Emily blushed, taking a drink.

“Wait,” Aria said as Hanna and Spencer moved to the edge of their seats. “Does that mean I have to drink too? Cause I was at Ezra’s.”

Hanna nodded as Spencer suddenly turned to her. “You've slept with Caleb.”

“Not at home.” Hanna grinned. “We were in a tent.”

Thanks to the greasy pizza and substituting water into her coke, so she wouldn't gain the attention from Hanna, Emily was the last of the four girls awake. It was eleven o'clock and the alcohol from her three drinks was almost completely gone from her system, leaving her with a battle against sleep. She decided to send a text to Paige before she fell asleep. 

Opening up a text to be sent to Paige, Emily paused as she tried to decide just what she'd send.

Emily(11:02pm): I'm missing you like crazy; just needed you to know that. Hope I'm not interrupting some amazing party. Or maybe I do… There's not a girl being overly friendly that I need to come smack, is there? I love you.

She watched the screen of her phone, hoping to see the little dots that would tell her Paige was responding. Emily could feel sleep trying to pull her into the darkness; she fought against it hard as she began to think that maybe she shouldn't have sent the text.

Emily jerked violently when she felt her phone vibrate against her chest.

Paige(11:15pm): No, Em, there's no party and no girl. 

Paige(11:16pm): Just sitting down with the swim team captain. Her name is Gail but I promise there's no need to be jealous. 

Emily smiled lightly, her eyes growing heavy once more as she continued to read the two messages again. 

Sleep finally claimed her. It wasn't until morning that she found a third and final message.

Paige(11:32pm): I love you, Emily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter yet!!


	10. Chapter 10

**_Emily_** (9:26am) **:** _How was the campus? I didn't mean to text so late; I forgot about the time difference._

The weekend had been exceptionally long after she woke up to the find Paige's final text. She'd spent the entire weekend analyzing the four words; after promising Spencer, and herself, that she wouldn't text the swimmer again so she could concentrate on her tour. The promise had been more difficult as she read the message over and over again. 

It had been separated from her previous message by several minutes. Emily could almost visualize Paige typing the message and then staring at it, working up the courage to hit send. It wasn't a quick, off-hand You too or Love ya. The message included her name and the sincere declaration was deafening. She's spent hours with her phone open to the message; reading it so many times that she could now hear Paige's voice in her head speaking the words. The warmth had spread through her chest to consume her entire body until she was sure that she'd fallen more in love with the girl with chestnut colored eyes.

**_Paige_** (9:29am) **:** _It's okay, I was awake. Jet lag. Joining the team workout on Saturday sucked._

Emily smiled lightly, glancing up to the teacher before typing another message. She still had a half hour before she'd spend an hour sitting next to Paige in Econ; those thirty minutes were going painfully slow.

**_Emily_** (9:30am) **:** _Oh? Do I need to work you harder? :) As if that's even possible._

_**Paige**_ (9:30am) **:** _No, it sucked because I only slept for about three hours and then walked around for another three hours on the campus tour._

_**Emily**_ (9:32am) **:** _How was the campus?_

_**Paige**_ (9:33am) **:** _It was beautiful._

_**Emily**_ (9:33am) **:** _I know something even more beautiful. ;)_

Emily looked down into her lap, waiting for an indication that Paige was typing another reply. She looked up at the teacher briefly to see that he was still writing a series of dates on a timeline. Glancing at the dark screen of her phone, Emily slowly picked up her pen and began to copy down the dates and bullet points of events. 

After a full five minutes of silence, Emily jerked slightly as her phone vibrated against her thigh. Only the girl to her right seemed to notice, quickly looking away with a knowing smile.

**_Paige_** (9:38am) **:** _Are you flirting with me, Coach?_

Emily grinned as she typed a reply.

**_Emily_** (9:39am) **:** _Yes. ;)_

Emily grinned as she sent the reply before writing down the assigned reading and made a note that Friday would consist of a huge open-book unit exam. She hated tests in general but unit exams consisted of four chapters and questions were never in chronological order. 

By the time she looked back at her phone, there was still no answer from Paige. Her heart hammered in her chest as the thought of it being too soon to flirt via text. Then four words sounded off in her head; four distinct words in a slight gravelly tone. 

_I love you, Emily._

The bell rang as a smile crossed her face. Glancing at her phone once more, having not realized that second period was so close to being over, Emily closed her notebook inside her History text, picked up her bag and hurried out of the classroom door. She'd never been more excited to get to Economics before.

***

Paige shoved her phone deep into her pocket as she made her way toward Ms. Sawyer’s classroom. Aria had given her a small jab in the ribs as they parted ways; she’d once again had to remind the taller girl that their comparison papers were due on Friday.

She'd never before been so thankful of Emily’s friends. _Their_ friends. 

Ahead of her, Paige saw a figure that she knew very well. Emily looked to be attempting to prod the boy in front of her to walk faster as she tried to keep her book from falling out of her hand. After getting home late the afternoon before and having a bit of trouble going to bed thanks to jet lag, Paige had almost choked on her breakfast when her father suggested she take the day. She had started to regret her decision to not skip before her phone vibrated with that first message.

Now, seeing Emily fighting her way through the halls toward their one shared class, a smile broke across her slender features. Before those few texts during English, she hadn't heard from the girl in two days. Receiving the flirt-confirmation text from Emily had instantly created a warmth in her stomach. If Aria’s joking was any indication, she was sure her cheeks were still tinged pink and a smile still resided on her face.

***

“How many times have you looked at your phone in the last few minutes?” Aria grinned, hoisting the book in her hand higher.

Aria and Hanna lounges side-by-side on Emily’s bed while she had taken up residence stretched across her window seat. The trio had mean to be studying but, as usual, Hanna had foregone her books for a fashion magazine. Emily resigned, stowing her cell on the shelf behind her head as she continued on with her math assignment.

“By the way, I couldn't help but notice a very obvious red-faced Paige during Spanish.” Hanna spoke.

Aria grinned, “They were texting during English. Guess that didn't stop after Econ and lunch.”

“Maybe Em gave her a kiss for dessert.” Hanna wriggled her eyebrows toward her best friend. 

Aria and Em shared a look which Hanna completely missed. Aria was the only person she and Paige had confided in regarding the missing part of their first recreated date. She could only guess that it hadn't been brought up in conversation with Spencer. Since the brainiac had been the driving force in getting Paige and her back together, Emily had been waiting for her friend to confront her as Aria had. 

“Han, Emily was with us after lunch.” Aria said, coming to Emily’s rescue. “When would she have had time to kiss Paige without us noticing?”

The brunette reached for her phone as it chimed softly, unheard by her two best friends. Aria was currently scolding Hanna about her Spanish homework, to which the blonde began to point at items in the magazine and identify them in Spanish terms. 

**_Paige_** (4:23pm) **:** _I can't tonight :( I promised my dad that I'd do some laps after my run with Spence. Rain check?_

Emily quickly replied, an idea already forming in her head.

**_Emily_** (4:24pm) **:** _I'll hold you to it!_

***

It was already a quarter after four when Paige double-knotted her sneakers and grabbed her Lady Sharks duffle bag. She'd barely completed her Spanish homework when her father had asked if she'd done her workout yet.

“You may have a full ride, honey,” He'd said while loosening his tie. “But that's not an excuse to slack off. Extra workouts will show your dedication and prove your worthiness of that scholarship.”

She had been reduced to promising at least a half hour workout in the pool following her nightly run with Spencer. Nick McCullers had certainly taken to his daughter’s new friend and the focused dedication that seemed to match Paige's. 

The drive to the high school only took ten minutes, so she knew she'd make it with time to spare and avoid the lecture from Spencer about punctuality. Paige had thrown her bag into the back seat of her Prius and made her way back toward school. She seemed to be working on autopilot as she made her way toward the rear student parking lot. It was close to the doors that lead straight into the natatorium. 

Paige got out of the car after grabbing her bag and phone. She opened the trunk of her car, dropped her bag, and then sat on the edge of the trunk. The parking lot was empty, meaning she’d actually beat Spencer to their meeting point. Opening the message tab on her cell, she noticed a waiting message from Emily. Quickly the athlete typed in her location and sent the message off to Spencer before opening the waiting text. 

**_Emily_** (4:15pm) **:** _All of our texting today really built up my appetite. Wanna meet at the Grille around 7?_

Paige briefly smiled as she looked back through a few of the previous messages. Emily had been more than a little bored during her last class of the day and had continued their flirty exchanges as if no time had passed between them. 

If only her dad hadn't caught her before leaving to meet Spencer. Her imagination suddenly burst with images of her and Emily leaving the Grille, bellies full of food as well as a different kind of hunger. A new image of Emily pinning her against the back of her car as they kissed feverishly. 

“Are you okay?” Spencer’s voice cut through the daydream. “You look flushed.”

Paige jerked up straighter, seeing Spencer just feet in front of her. “Nope,” she quickly began to type in a message in reply. “I'm fine.”

“Oh,” Spencer grinned as Paige sent the message and returned her phone to her pocket. “You and Emily are still sexting, huh?”

“We're not sexting. We're just-” Paige closed the trunk as her brain scrambled for an appropriate word. 

“Flirting via text?” 

Paige blushed a bit. “It's an improvement over the other messages she gets.”

The two girls stretched for a few moments behind Paige's car as they decided on their route variation. After nearly a month of daily runs together, their routine had fallen comfortably into place. Meet, stretch, jog to warm-up, run whatever route they'd chosen, cool down in the space between the cars and road, stretch once more, and then part ways. The routine had fallen into a space of time of an hour-and-a-half. 

“So how was Stanford? Think you'll like it?”

“Not as much as I would if Georgetown was in California. Or Emily.” Paige stated. 

“Didn't she tell you?” Spencer said as the set out on their jog. “She was accepted at Berkeley.” 

It was at that exact moment, noticing the surprise on Paige's face, that she realized Emily might have been waiting to say anything. “Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't think that she might not’ve been ready to tell you.”

“Why wouldn't she tell me that? We swore: no more secrets.”

“I don't know.” Spencer said quietly. “Maybe it's like the whole kissing thing, maybe she didn't want you to feel pressured.”

Paige stopped instantly. Spencer, a few feet in front of her partner. “Kissing thing?”

With a sigh, Spencer looked down at her feet. The conversation had suddenly snowballed into one Paige should have been having with her best friend. “Emily doesn't feel like she's earned back the right to kiss you. She's punishing herself for hurting you but what she doesn't realize is that she's punishing you too.”

“Me?” Paige moved to continue their procession along the sidewalk. Spencer halted her movement with a single hand wrapped around her bicep. 

“We all see how much it kills you that you haven't kissed yet. We see how much you love her, how much she loves you. I think to Emily, she wants to make sure you know that she's truly sorry and that she's willing to put in the work to earn your trust again.”

***

Paige didn't really remember much of the conversation after that. Her mind kept ping-ponging around with various statements that Spencer had said.

_Emily is punishing herself. She feels as if she hasn't earned the right to kiss you. She loves you. She's truly sorry. You love her._

Of course, even with all those statements in her head, her heart was screaming in despair. Emily had gone above and beyond; how could she think she hadn't? She'd recreated three dates, she'd stood up to Alison on her behalf, even slapped her in front of a crowd of people. 

Paige stopped. She was on the shallow end of the school pool. She sighed heavily as she pushed her wet hair out of her eyes. Their was only one thought left in her mind: she desperately wanted to kiss Emily. The swimmer thought perhaps it would show the other girl that she forgave her, that she wanted to get past their huge bump in their relationship. 

Click. 

Immediately Paige turned to scan the darkened pool area. She'd always loved swimming with just the lights from the pool; she wasn't sure why but somehow it felt more intimate: just her and the water. Of course, now it had her nerves on end. With Emily (and the other girls) choosing her over their old best friend, Paige still expected some retaliation from Alison. On top of that, the tormentor known as A was still out there no matter how much they all tried to ignore the fact. 

She was sure whoever it was that had entered the natatorium could hear her heartbeat echoing off the walls. Emily walked into view, grinning at the visual release of the breath Paige had held. “When did you make it a habit to scare the crap out of me?”

“I swear I don't mean to.” Emily said as she came to the edge of the pool. 

“What are you doing here?” Paige asked as she made her way through the water, climbing up to sit next to Emily with her feet still kicking in the water. 

“Well, I know how hard you train and how much pressure your dad puts on you so I thought I'd come just to make sure you don't overdo it; I mean, there is a pretty important meet this Friday.”

Paige smiled as Emily spoke and then rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. “Don't remind me; he wants copies of my times in practice and in meets.”

The two fell into a brief lull of conversation; Emily studied Paige's profile as the swimmer leaned back on her hands and continued kicking her feet in the water. She remembered how stressful it was to put everything into her swimming and then had had it all ripped away.

“Do you remember when you asked me how I got over wanting to give up swimming?”

Paige chuckled lightly, sitting up straight again but kept her eyes on the water. “Yea; you said you stopped trying to be better and swam for yourself.”

“Swimming doesn't have to be all that you are. I know you've already got a free ride at Stanford but it doesn't mean that you can't be part of something else too.”

Emily’s statement earned Paige’s attention. Her chestnut gaze found Emily’s and the conversation with Spencer came rushing back into her mind along with her previous desires of Emily kissing her. “Like what?”

“Come on,” Emily grinned as she began to untie her sneakers. “You just need to relax.”

“What are you doing?” Paige asked as Emily tossed her shoes toward the bench. 

“We're gonna loosen you up.” Emily pulled her shirt over her head before throwing it toward her shoes.

Paige felt her chest tighten as Emily rose to her feet. Her mouth suddenly felt like the Sahara at the brief thought that the other girl might remove her shorts as well. “You're not allowed,” she said, surprised that her voice hadn't betrayed her.

“I'm not allowed to compete,” Emily corrected, sinking into the cool, waist-high water. “I can still swim as long as I don't overdo it.”

“I don't know if this is a good idea.”

Paige watched as Emily sank into the water quickly in order to adjust to the temperature all at once instead of drawing it out. Resurfacing, Emily pushed her hair back and wiped the droplets from her face. The swimmer averted her gaze as the white bra Emily woke became nearly transparent. 

“Come on,” the young coach coaxed. “No racing, just a few laps; if my shoulder starts hurting I'll let you drag me out. Promise.”

It was more than just Emily’s shoulder that was causing her hesitation. She was mostly naked- in the school pool- and Paige wasn't exactly sure if this was considered ‘taking advantage.’ Yet there was suddenly a feeling in the room that had hypnotized Paige. She didn't remember walking toward Emily or pulling her swim cap and goggles off. 

“One lap,” Paige agreed. “We'll see how you do with that first.”

The smile on Emily's face exploded. Paige could literally feel excitement fill the chlorine-scented room as she smiled in return without realizing. It wasn't until Emily was a full length in front of her, her arms slicing through the water effortlessly, that she followed. 

“You expect to win anchor like that?” Emily quipped. “Come on.”

Paige shook her head slightly. “We're not racing, remember.”

A familiar twinkle sparked from Emily’s eyes. “Beat me to the end or else.”

“Or else what?” The swimmer questioned despite herself.

“Lose and you'll find out.” Emily grinned and dropped below the surface of the water.

Paige began to stretch her strokes a bit further, propelling herself forward in order to at least keep up with Emily. The other girl was moving through the pool as if her shoulder hadn't been competitively ruined a few months before. 

However, halfway toward the opposite end of the pool that changed.

Emily stopped her stroke and began to tread water. It took Paige a moment to realize the retired athlete was no longer next to her. Doubling back, she studied Emily’s face. She didn't appear to be in pain but she also knew how well the girl could hide it when it meant she could keep swimming. “Are you okay? Is your shoulder-”

“My shoulder’s fine.” Emily shook her head. “A little tight but that's not why I stopped.”

“Why did you stop?”

Even with the pool lights being the only light in the natatorium, Emily was certain that Paige could see her blush. “Because I wanted you to beat me.”

“I don't understand.” Paige said, shaking her head slightly. “You wanted to race, even though you said we wouldn't, and then you just stop; not because you hurt yours--”

Emily cut off Paige's curious paraphrase by kissing her. She could feel the butterflies in her stomach instantly begin fluttering like crazy; yet, the girl she was trying so hard to gain the trust of again seemed to have frozen. A sinking feeling in her chest began as she started to pull back in order to apologize. Before she did, Emily felt a ghost of a touch along her jaw a second before Paige began to kiss her in return. 

Neither girl seemed to be able to hide the smiles that mingled upon their joined lips as Emily deepened the kiss tentatively. She'd wanted so badly to kiss Paige for weeks and knowing that she wanted her to, Emily couldn't make Paige wait any longer. 

Emboldened by the parting of Paige's lips, and the feeling of the girl's tongue sliding past her own, Emily pulled herself closer by wrapping her legs around Paige's waist and cupping the girl’s jaw in her hand. She felt, rather than heard, a rumble of some sort before Paige began to move their intertwined bodies toward a side wall of the pool. 

She gasped softly, breaking the kiss, as her back hit the wall of the pool. A smile played on her lips as she whispered mere centimeters from Paige's. “This seems very familiar.”

“Only this isn't my pool and I'm sure we'd get expelled if we recreated _that_ date here.” Paige spoke softly. That evening had been unexpected and, by far, her favorite. Of course, she couldn't hide the subtle mark left on her collarbone so she'd told her parents half the truth when they'd returned home the following afternoon. 

“I'm sure that would do wonders for your scholarship.” Emily replied, still holding herself against Paige. “Paige?”

“Hmm?”

“I'm really, really sorry.” She swallowed the lump in her throats after leaning her forehead against Paige's. 

“I know you are, Em.” The swimmer replied, sliding two fingers gently along Emily’s bottom lip.

“I love you.” 

“I love you more.”

Emily chuckled softly, pulling Paige into another deep kiss after hearing those words for real rather than in her head. It made her heart skip a beat and she broke the kiss once more. “Paige?”

“Em?” 

Emily had wrapped both of her arms around Paige's neck during their travel to the wall of the pool. She'd held so tight up until then; fearing that if she let go, all of Paige's walls would instantly go back up and she'd lose her last chance with the girl. Loosening her arms, leaning a bit further so that she could look at the woman she loved properly, her voice came out soft… hopeful.

“Will you be my girlfriend again?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to take a moment to thank anyone who is still following this story as well as Bullet of Love. As I've said before, losing my son really took a toll on my mind and body. I lost almost all of my inspiration to write since last August. I would sit down to try to write and get a paragraph or two out before I'd lose interest; I would try working on another story to see if it was just the story but the same thing would happen. As such, I have also worked on Bullet as well as my WayHaught story all at once. I am not 100% obviously (it's only been 8 months... tomorrow) so I still ask for some patience when it comes to updates on any of my stories. Again, thank you and I love all of you!


End file.
